Just Say When
by Bounemr
Summary: Denki is shocked to find himself tutored by Todoroki. Will he finally rise from last place, academically, in class? Will love shenanigans happen? Probably. They're not mutually exclusive.
1. Chapter 1

Denki wanted to be a hero. Obviously. Why else would he be in the UA hero course if not that? Only the dedicated and lucky got there at all, and the latter didn't maintain their positions as students there if his homeroom teacher's constant threat of expulsion was any indication. But walking every day into the school, past the intimidating gates and the stringent security system, still set him on edge. _Not very hero-like,_ he would sometimes think on his worse days.

It wasn't that the school was scary, in stature or reputation. As many adjectives as could describe him, "coward" was one that Denki rarely heard. He actually loved the atmosphere, loved the intensity and the people and just how much drive everyone seemed to have. Everyone was so passionate about their futures that he couldn't help just get caught up in it all.

But that was also the problem. He had expected it, of course. Only the best of the best were accepted into UA in the first place, so naturally he'd be surrounded by a class of giants, a school of them. Giants of personality, of power, of motivation, often of more than one. Logically, he knew his presence there at all meant that had he gone to another more normal school, he'd most likely be the giant, but at UA he was small.

He wasn't exceptional at anything, really. He started ranked sixteen of twenty in his class in the quirk apprehension test at the beginning of the year and he knew if they were ranked again he wouldn't score much better. It wasn't too bad, exactly. He was low, but not too low for the people in class whose quirks didn't help much in at least some of the tests. Just average. But academically, he was dead last.

Socially, the area he would probably consider one of his strengths, he still didn't measure up. Ashido's pure, cheerful magnetism and Kirishima's unadulterated enthusiastic and caring nature both outshined him by far. Even Bakugou drew more attention, even if it was bad.

And as for his dreams? He wanted to be a hero, but after spending a few weeks in UA's class 1-A, he started to feel like even that was stupid. Everyone else was just so eager, so determined. They had one path through life and it was heroism. Even when they doubted, it was always whether they could and not if they _should_ , and that placed Denki in a precarious place because he wanted to be a hero while people like Midoriya and Bakugou and Uraraka _needed_ to be heroes.

He honestly wished he could relate to that. _Maybe the brainwashing kid should be here instead._ He frowned, watching arcs of electricity jump between his fingers. _He'd probably fit right in. Seemed like he really needs to be a hero, too. Wonder why._

It was a game he liked to play, one he kept strictly in his own head. He saw someone with that passion and thought of why they might be so enthusiastic about it. Why they might be so desperate to be heroes. _Bet it's something no one would expect. He's Mr. Aizawa's long lost nephew, trying to be a hero so that he can impress him and start developing a relationship with the only family he has left. Wait, no, he's Mr. Aizawa's son, and he was cast out because his mom said he had no potential. Mr. Aizawa never recovered, which is why he's so obsessive about expelling us if we don't do well, and brainwash dude is trying to prove his worth by becoming the number one hero._

He moved his hands further apart, playing with the output of electricity. _Or he just has a quirk people say is villainous and he wants to prove everyone wrong and become a hero out of spite. Spite is a good motivator. Still a better reason than "oh, I thought it'd be cool"._

Denki frowned, his mind wandering from his hands to his motivations. As the familiar ball in his chest grew, he lost control of his output, and he panicked as a shock went flying to the next best thing besides his own fingers: the metal pen of a passerby classmate.

Todoroki flinched and dropped the pen. Denki surged to his feet. "Oh, man, I'm so sorry! It was an accident, dude!" He scooped up the pen and held it out gingerly for Todoroki to reclaim. "Totally my bad! I just got distracted and didn't realize and… uh…" He trailed off, looking up at Todoroki's neutral expression. The mismatched eyes that bored into him made him squirm. "Uh, yeah. Sorry. I'll be more careful."

He stood rigid, still awkwardly holding the tip of the pen between his fingers. The longer they stood like that, the longer Denki found he couldn't breathe under Todoroki's scrutiny. The held moment seemed to stretch on for several minutes, making Denki's lungs hurt and his fingers start to tremble. _Oh my god, he hates me. I just totally pissed him off and now I'm weirding him out and oh god please just take your pen back and let me die._

Finally, mercifully, Todoroki accepted the pen and tilted his head quizzically. "Don't worry about it. No harm done." He turned away and continued nonchalantly to his desk.

Denki collapsed in his own chair, pressing his head to the desk and covering it with his hands. Luckily, the chatter of the classroom didn't seem to pause any longer than people turning to look at his own outburst, so he figured the huge time lag between him picking up the pen and Todoroki taking it back was mostly in his head. Still, his cheeks burned and he felt like maybe disappearing and never showing up in that classroom ever again. _I'm an idiot._ A groan escaped his lips. _Why me? I'm trying my best. Why him? It couldn't have been Kirishima or something? If it were him we'd have laugh and then it's gone but no, now I just proved my own stupidity and incompetence in quirk control to one of the smartest and strongest guys in class._

He dropped one hand to the desk and peeked over it, watching everyone mill about as normal. _He's probably back there judging me. "Did you see Kaminari just now? What a wreck. Can't even control a few sparks; what's he even doing here?" No, he's too heroic for that. More like, "Can you believe Kaminari's still here? I'm impressed. Maybe there's hope for him after all." Yeah. Or I hope so, anyway. It would be nice to think that they see any sort of potential in me._

 _Mr. Aizawa does, apparently, so I guess I shouldn't count myself out. Still, next to them…_

Denki was brought back to center when class was started. He sighed, ducking his head once more when his attention was called to the class, but he quickly sat up and opened his notebook. Last place academically or not, it's certainly not because he didn't even attempt to learn. He just got distracted. Like when Ojiro's tail was waving in front of him. How could anybody expect him to be able to focus on the lecture when the tuft of hair on the end of his friend's tail was moving like that? Bouncing and swaying as Ojiro idly moved his tail without even thinking about it.

Denki did his absolute best not to touch it. He really did. But Ojiro had, on multiple occasions, said it was okay and it was just there. In front of him. Taunting him. He curled his fingers into his palm. _Oh well, I already lost track of the lesson._ With a shrug, he began to play with the hair on Ojiro's tail, the only indication that his friend noticed being how his tail moved to drag his attention back and forth and the small smirk that Denki could see when Ojiro turned his head a little.

A hand hit his back. He turned to Jirou. "Sit still, you're distracting." She whispered.

"Sorry." Denki said, rubbing his head. Ojiro helpfully stilled his tail, so Denki tried once more to turn his attention to the lesson.

"And that's why, once the classic superhero style began falling out of fashion for heroes, you see elements of baroque fashion popping up."

Denki blinked. _What?_ He listened for a little bit more, quickly becoming less sure of what class he was even in, much less what "baroque" meant. "But it wasn't until a decade after this that hero costumes strayed fully from their origins and lost their 'uniform' idea. Heroes started wearing more practical clothing, designed for effectiveness rather than to mimic their comic book counterparts."

He had to admit, it actually was kind of interesting. He jot down what notes he could, while his attention was still on the lesson. "This is also the era when we start seeing unconventional heroes, including one of the most infamous, and one of my favorites, the Dadaist hero, Voltaire."

Denki glanced at the clock. _Twenty more minutes._ "…caused quite a stir…" _If I zapped the clock right, could I make it speed up? Hmm, it would be hard not to just break it. Maybe I can ask Yaoyorozu, I'm sure she knows how clocks work._

He touched the end of his pen to his nose, holding it up with only one finger at the other tip of the pen. _I probably should sit in the back, so I don't distract anyone else._ He hunched over a little more, conscious of Jirou behind him. _But then I'd really never be able to pay attention! I already get distracted just by Ojiro, and he's not even doing anything. If I had to have Bakugou's pouting in my vision every day I probably wouldn't even be able to think._ He put the pen on his desk properly. _Scary, but cute._

He risked a glance sideways, to where Bakugou sat. The grumpy boy was obediently scribbling in his notebook, brow furrowed and lips pursed. Though he was objectively calm, his eyes still burned. _Yep. Still cute. An unhealthy power complex, but undeniably cute. Haha, please god never let him hear me call him that._ He moved his gaze to others in his class that he liked to stare at. _Uraraka, good to see you're adorable as ever. Midoriya, you too. Got to say, you look better without a shattered skeleton. Please try not to kill yourself at the next opportunity? Thanks, love you._

 _Wish I could see Yaomomo and Todoroki from here. Got some choice compliments for them today._ Denki paused, remembering the incident at the beginning of class again. _Okay, maybe not Todoroki._ He buried his head in his arms, masking the grimace that found its way to his face. _I really need to get out of here. Reset so I can face Todoroki again. Ha, not that I ever could._

 _Which is stupid. Being talkative is the only thing I even have going for me. It's actually a little weird that I still have no idea how to talk to him. Funny how his aloof thing actually makes it much harder to talk to him than Bakugou's angry 'splode-y thing does for him. Maybe if he chilled out and shut up, people wouldn't bother him as much._ Denki grinned at the thought for a moment, imagining an angry and explosive Todoroki. _Freaking cute, honestly._ And then he imagined Bakugou being docile and quiet and maybe a little clueless and all the fun vanished and left him with a bad aftertaste. _Weird. No. I prefer Blasty McSplode._

 _Should I be questioning why I seem to find angry boys cute? Like, is this just a thing for me? Huh… Midoriya. Nope. Yeah, no it's not a thing. Just the two. It's probably because I know he isn't really that bad, or rather, he's getting better. It's just Bakugou anger that's kind of cute, nothing to do with the person themselves. It'd be too out of place on Midoriya, but I could definitely see Todoroki doing it._

 _Heh, imagine if he just like, catches on fire if he gets angry. I almost want to try it, except that would involve purposefully pissing off Todoroki, who could kick the shit out of me with his eyes closed and his hands tied behind his back. Plus, I honestly don't even know how I'd do that. I haven't seen him like, actually express anger almost ever? Am I just not paying attention?_ His eyes caught the movement of the chalk on the board as new dates were scribed. _Ha, probably._

Denki ran a hand down his face. _Okay, seriously. Get it together. Focus. You'll never pick your grades up at this rate! Now, what are we supposed to be learning?_ He looked from his notes to the board and whined internally. _No way we covered that much time! It can't have been that long! How did we get from a da- what's this word? Dadaist hero? What does that mean? Who's Macbeth?_

He groaned and closed his notebook. _This is hopeless. I'm hopeless. I'll have to ask someone for their notes. Again._

 _Okay, so Yaomomo, Bakugou, Iida, Midoriya, which one, which one… I've asked Yaomomo like ten times already… Bakugou is, pfft, that's likely. Class Pres would probably be willing and god knows Midoriya is such a good soul I could charm it off him if Iida refuses for whatever reason._

 _Still! Even if you're giving up on notes, you got to listen! It'll help you remember if you're reviewing when you copy notes instead of trying to learn it at the same time. You know this. From experience. Come on._

He tried, but the rest of class ended up going about as well as it started. He'd hear a couple minutes of the lecture before getting distracted by something, then distracted by something else, then refocusing on the lecture and just getting distracted again. In the end, he got what he usually got, scattered tidbits and that might help him in a competition of fun facts but that would be ultimately useless if he wanted to actually pass the test.

He sighed, defeated, and packed up his things. "Hey, Kaminari. Smooth move earlier, by the way." Jirou's teasing voice brought his attention behind him.

Denki turned to face her, his nearly-packed bag forgotten on his desk. "Shut up!" He whined. "It was an accident."

"What was an accident?" Kirishima asked, approaching Denki's desk. Sero and Bakugou trailed after him.

"Oh!" Ashido jumped on him, her hands on his shoulders as she bounced. "I saw it too! He zapped Todoroki!"

"Was that what that was about?" Kirishima looked concerned, as did Sero, but Bakugou just rolled his eyes and made a noise of disgust.

"Lies and slander." Denki said.

Jirou snorted. "So, you _didn't_ zap Todoroki?"

"I zapped his pen. Accidentally."

"Same thing, dude."

They shared a laugh at his embarrassment, but thankfully his friends let it go. And of course, it wasn't until lunch that he remembered he never asked anyone if he could copy their notes.

At the lunch table, his gaze drifted over to the other main group, with Iida, Midoriya, and Todoroki. _Well I can't exactly go over there now._ The chatter of his friends went in one ear and out the other as he dug through his bag. When he pulled out his notebook and flipped it open, the area around him grew quiet. "Uh, Kaminari?"

"Hmm?" He hummed, furrowing his brow at the disconnected scribbles.

"Are you… studying?"

His head snapped up, seeking out the source of the voice. "No, Kirishima, I'm thinking about how I'm going to study without good notes."

"Let me see!"

Denki reluctantly conceded his notes when everyone started grabbing for them. He figured it would be better to just let it happen than ruin his notebook in a scrap over it. Ashido's roaring laughter drowned out even Jirou's. "Even my notes aren't this bad, Kaminari."

Kirishima grinned bashfully. "Haha, sorry Kaminari, I didn't think it was like this. You can borrow my notes if you need to, but they're not too great either if I'm honest."

Sero sighed. "Same here. It's better than what you've got but you might be better off asking Iida or Yaoyorozu."

"I've asked Yaomomo too much already." Denki put his face in his hands.

"She loves tutoring, though."

"But if it's just notes," Kirishima said, "Bakugou might be able to help."

"Like fuck I'm going to help." Bakugou spat. "Learn to take your own fucking notes."

"There's always Iida?" Kirishima said hopefully. "You could go ask right now, I'm sure he'd be eager to help."

Denki, along with some of the others, looked over to Iida's table. Iida himself was talking animatedly while the others either grinned fondly at him or quietly munched on their lunch. Then Todoroki looked over, and Denki caught his eye. Todoroki arched a single, quizzical eyebrow, which Denki took as a sign that he should stop looking.

"Ha," he said, "yeah. Maybe later."

"What's wrong? Still embarrassed about zapping Todoroki?" Ashido grinned teasingly.

"No, I just… don't want to interrupt."

"Never stopped you before, dude." Sero said. Denki just gave him a look of utter betrayal.

"Just fucking go already so everyone will shut up about it!" Bakugou growled.

"Alright, fine, fine." He snatched his notebook out of Jirou's hands. "I'm going." He stood and made his way to the other table, doing his best not to look at Todoroki as he did so.

The others saw him coming. "Hello, Kaminari. How can we help you?" Iida asked.

"Hey guys!" Denki grinned. "I was just wondering if I could copy some notes from last period. I, uh, missed a bit."

"I apologize, but Hagakure is already copying my notes!" Iida exclaimed. "Feel free to sit with us and work with her if you need to."

Denki looked over to where a seemingly floating pencil was scribbling into a notebook, Iida's tidy notes off to the side. "Ah." He said.

The pencil stopped moving and shifted to wave back and forth in the air. Hagakure was waving at him. He waved back. "I'm already a couple pages in." She said. "So you'd have to wait or just start here."

 _So much?! For one period?_ "That's okay." He said. "I'll figure out something."

"I'm sorry, Kaminari," Midoriya said, "I left my stuff in the classroom."

"Don't worry about it. I'll just get it off of Bakugou or something." _Somehow._

"You could use mine." Denki turned to see Todoroki holding up his notebook. "Iida's might be better, but…"

"No, that's great!" Denki accepted the notebook and took a place at the table next to Todoroki. "Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver."

"Literally, if Kacchan was your next option." Midoriya mumbled. Denki snorted and started laughing. Midoriya snapped his head up as if he didn't actually expect anyone to laugh.

"Sorry." He said. "You're right, though." He looked to Todoroki. "You've saved me from trying to get help from Bakugou. I'm forever in your debt."

Midoriya started giggling a little, while Uraraka was much less contained. Todoroki just had a strange look in his eyes as he furrowed his brow. "If you don't start, you won't get it all before lunch ends." He said calmly.

"Shit, you're right." Denki hurriedly flipped through Todoroki's notebook as well as his own and started scribbling down the notes. _He takes such good notes? And he even has questions off to the side like what the heck?_

As the conversation moved from him, he couldn't help but listen in occasionally. _They even talk about class during lunch break? No wonder there's three of our top students here. Or maybe it's because of that. Hmm…_ A finger tapped on the notebook, drawing him back to the notes. He glanced up at Todoroki, and just caught the other boy looking over for a moment. Denki grinned sheepishly and returned to copying notes.

Really, the only reason he managed to get them all before they had to return to class was that Todoroki was, for some reason, keeping a watchful eye on him the entire time. Once or twice it was Iida who called him out for getting distracted, but most of the time it would be Todoroki's quiet and nonchalant tapping that drew him back to the page. Aside from the first time, though, he never caught Todoroki actually paying any sort of attention to him. Whenever he looked up to thank him or say something, Todoroki was just politely watching whoever was talking at the time.

It was actually a little unnerving, since Denki couldn't figure out exactly how Todoroki seemed to be able to tell when his mind was wandering. He never thought he was that obvious, at least not when it was just his mind going off on a tangent.

But Todoroki's notes were themselves a blessing, since he somehow managed to write down _why_ everything was important and not just random facts as the teacher said them. Denki never felt like he was writing anything useless. Next to a hero name and date would be a small description and their impact on heroism or hero costumes and Denki was pretty sure that most of the information was never actually discussed in class, but he also knew he didn't have the best attention span and probably just missed it all. Sure, he still didn't understand why he needed to know what hero single-handedly started a counterculture movement that led to the silver age of heroism as they knew it, but he at least understood why that hero was important to history and that was a big step up from a name and a date.

As their lunch period drew to a close, Denki finished up with Todoroki's notes and managed to get them back to him before they were all forced to return to class. Uraraka was saying something that had everyone else's attention, so Denki just lightly tapped Todoroki on the shoulder. "Thank you again, man. I really owe you."

Todoroki looked from the notes to him a few times as he took them back. "Did you understand everything?"

 _"Everything" might be stretching it…_ "Yeah, mostly. Your notes are super clear so I was able to pick up most of the stuff I missed."

"Oh. Good."

 _This is your chance. Talk to him!_ Denki felt a little bubbling in his chest. Excitement or nerves or both, he wasn't sure, but he was happy to finally have an excuse to talk to Todoroki. He'd at least chatted with everyone else before, so it was nice to finally have the chance to get past whatever barrier was between Todoroki and everyone else. _Except Midoriya, and Iida to an extent. For some reason._ "You know, you're like, super impressive. I knew how smart you were but even your notes are pretty much perfect."

Todoroki looked at the notebook in his hands instead of at Denki. Denki wasn't sure if that was a bad sign or not. "Thank you. It's not that special, though. Iida and Yaoyorozu have much more comprehensive notes."

"I don't know about Iida, but I always get lost in Yaomomo's notes. Like, they're comprehensive, yeah, but too comprehensive? A lot of it seems kind of like just noise and I have a hard time figuring out what's important. Yours are perfect. I get it, you know?"

If Denki didn't know better, he would have sworn he saw a hint of a smile tug at Todoroki's lips. "In that case, feel free to come to me when you have a hard time in class. I'd be happy to help."

"Really?"

"Well, is it more heroic to do well in class, or to help someone else do well?"

"That is…" _adorable,_ "a good point."

"I'm not taking your notes for you, though. I expect you to at least try to do it yourself."

Denki clutched at his chest over his heart dramatically. "Hey! I'm doing my best!" He saw the little smile again. "But seriously dude, I wouldn't expect you to. I just… have a real hard time making good notes."

"Do you not know how?" Denki felt his face burn as he registered the question.

He mumbled, unwilling to admit it, especially not to one of the top students. _But he sounds like he might be willing to help, and I really need to get my grades up._ "Not really. But that's not even the problem. I just… can't pay attention long enough to get everything written down."

Todoroki didn't seem surprised. He shouldn't be, Denki thought, since he had spent most of the lunch period repeatedly bringing him back to focus every time he got distracted. "I see." He frowned, thinking about Denki's problem.

"Yeah." Denki said, rubbing his head. "I stopped missing class and everything but my grades haven't gotten too much better. I still miss a lot of the lecture, and then I can't study very well even when I remember to."

"With your notes, I'm not sure it'd do you much good if you could focus on studying." Denki wanted to protest, but swallowed his pride. _He's not wrong._ "Don't you study with Yaoyorozu?"

"She tutors me, yeah, but with everyone else I get distracted too easily. She's helped a lot but I'm still not doing too hot."

"Would it help to be tutored one on one?"

"I don't know, maybe. She's too busy for that, though. I couldn't ask her for private tutoring."

"I could do it." Denki stared at Todoroki, eyes narrowed. He was sure, absolutely positive, that Todoroki was just messing with him. Todoroki shifted a little, and his gaze dropped to the table. "I'm not as busy as Yaoyorozu, and I think it would be helpful for me, too, to review the material in that way. She often talks about how teaching is the best way to ensure you know something. I thought maybe it would be helpful for us both if I offered to…" _Is he… rambling? Todoroki?_ "It's quite alright if you don't want to, I'm sure you're busy yourself. And you already have tutoring with Yaoyorozu so… sorry. Never mind."

"Wait, wait, no!" Denki jolted into action, realizing that Todoroki was actually self-conscious about his offer. "I'd love that! Please, help me study."

Todoroki looked at him for a moment with an expression that Denki could only assume was waiting for him to change his mind. "If you think I can help…"

"Yes! I'm sure you can. Please, I really do want to do better. If it's okay with you, I'd love to at least try it."

"Okay." Todoroki reached for Denki's notes. "I'll give you my phone number. Let me know when you're available and we'll arrange a time."

Denki sat paralyzed while Todoroki wrote in his notebook. _I'm getting Todoroki's phone number. Todoroki Shouto. He's writing down his phone number. For me. God, I'm so gay._

 _Get it together. You're going to study and you're going to do it right. Make Todoroki proud that he offered to tutor you. Show him you're not slacking. Yeah._

"Here."

"Thanks man! I'll do you proud, I swear."

Denki stuck his brightest and most confident smile on, and swore that Todoroki smiled a little bit in return, before they had to get back to class.

In his seat once more and waiting for the teacher to start, Ashido approached him without the rest of the crew. "You never came back. I take it it went well?"

Denki smiled and held up his notebook for her to examine. "You tell me."

"Woah! I can't believe you got all this just during lunch! It always takes you forever to copy notes!" She started whining. "And these are so good, too. Hey, whose are they? Can I copy them off you?"

"Todoroki's. And I need to study tonight so if you need to you can copy them tomorrow."

"Todoroki?" Ashido looked over towards where Todoroki sat. "Figures he'd have good notes." She flipped through them a little, examining them, and then her eyes lit up like she won the lottery. "Hey, Kaminari." _Wait, I forgot his number is written there._ "What's this?" She grinned mischievously and pointed to the digits with Todoroki's name neatly written above them.

Denki couldn't fight off the blush. He hadn't intended on telling her about the study sessions, just because he didn't want anyone else to bother Todoroki about tutoring. He didn't think the other boy would appreciate that very much, and it defeated the point of starting one-on-one tutoring in the first place. "He offered to tutor me, that's all." Denki squeaked.

"Your face tells a different story."

"I swear that's all! It's just so we can arrange a time to meet."

Ashido nodded sagely and hummed. "Mhmm. A time to meet, huh?"

"To study."

"Then why are you blushing?"

"Because I'm a mess."

Ashido snickered. "Well, I know that's true."

"You aren't supposed to agree!"

"I'm sorry! Sorry." She said, though her cackling said otherwise. "What about Yaomomo's tutoring?"

"I'll be going to that too. For now, at least."

"You'd feel bad if she lost a student."

"She's just so happy when she's tutoring us."

"Isn't that going to be a lot of work, though? Classes and Yaomomo and Todoroki?"

Denki frowned. "Yeah, I guess. But my grades really need the help. I'm still last in the class."

"Well don't get all smart and make me the last! Or I'll have to steal Todoroki from you."

"You wouldn't."

"Don't test me, Kaminari Denki."

He couldn't resist snickering, and soon enough both of them were laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

When Denki got back home and pulled out his notebook to study, he was reminded by the neatly scrawled digits in the corner of the page that he still needed to arrange a time to meet with Todoroki. _He said to tell him when I'm free, right? So, any time outside school except Tuesday and Friday._

He made sure to leave his name so Todoroki wouldn't be confused, and texted him when he was free. Todoroki's response came in a few minutes and was short and professional.

TS: Can you come to my house on Saturday?

Denki grinned. _Saturday? Great, school even on the weekend._ _I'm down, though. Especially since it's just going to be us._ He responded enthusiastically, already getting excited. _Oh man, it's going to be just me and Todoroki. At his house. Well, maybe he has siblings. Oh god, what if his dad's there? I can't face Endeavor! Is his mom nice? I bet she is._ He felt giddy, even though he knew it was just studying. He didn't think Todoroki even knew he existed, but now he thought maybe they could be friends and that was something that put Denki on cloud nine.

Todoroki confirmed the time and gave him the address and Denki thought that, to be safe, he should probably refrain from texting Todoroki just to chat. It took all his self-control, but he managed to resist the urge and put his phone away. _Not yet. You still don't know each other very well. Don't take advantage of your phone number privileges. Study._

But though he turned his eyes to the notes, his mind lingered on Todoroki and the upcoming tutoring session. _I wonder if he's going to be strict. Endeavor must be, I mean, I've seen the guy on TV and damn. Wonder if Todoroki's going to follow suit with this. That'd be scary. I'd probably feel like poor Kirishima when Bakugou was tutoring him._

 _Well, no, Kirishima liked that. So like if I was being tutored by Bakugou. Yikes. But Todoroki isn't like that, right? At the very least there'll be less yelling. And that's good._

 _Will he be all super excited about it like Yaomomo? That would be so cute. Oh god, what if he is and I can't focus because he's too cute? I don't have everyone else to cover it up, there's no way I could get away with that. Though I guess that is the point. It'd just be so embarrassing._

 _Yeesh, it still feels weird to get personal attention from Todoroki though. Like, I'm pretty sure none of this is real? If I go to sleep, when I wake up tomorrow will I just have my terrible notes and I'll look on my phone and there's no conversation with him and this all ended up being some bizzare fever dream? Probably. I probably like, got taken out in hero class or something and this is all just an elaborate trick my mind is playing on me because I accidentally shocked him earlier._

 _Ahh, I'm going to hurt my brain. Let's just get to studying._

 _Although… I wonder where he lives. I could look up the address. For later, of course. It's best to have these things planned out in advance you know. I should make sure I know my route._ He shifted to his computer, typing in the address Todoroki had sent him. _Yeah. He'd probably be irritated if I didn't prepare properly and got there late because I didn't think ahead._

 _Wait, that's not even that far from here._ Denki looked closer, zooming in on the map. _Like, I could skate there. Actually… I think I know exactly where this is._

 _Wait, Endeavor has been living right around the corner all this time?! What the heck… The number two hero lives twenty minutes away from me. Oh my god, I'm going to hyperventilate._

 _Okay, Denki. Deep breaths. It's not a big deal. You'll just never be able to go down that street ever again is all. Not a big deal._

 _I bet Endeavor is like, a grumpy old man. Shaking his fiery fist at these young whippersnappers doing kickflips in the street._

 _I'm the young whippersnapper doing kickflips in the street. Oh my god, Endeavor hates me._

His phone vibrated, and he was surprised to see it was a message from Todoroki.

TS: Remember to study.  
KD: dude we live? really close?  
TS: Really?  
KD: yeah ur like 20 min away!  
KD: im like 98% sure ive skated past ur house before  
TS: Odd.  
KD: right  
TS: Regardless, please study as much as you can. The more you have down, the better our sessions will be. It is a bit impractical to try and cover a week of classes in a few hours.  
KD: you have no faith in me  
TS: I'm sorry. I just thought I should remind you. I didn't mean to offend.  
KD: im just joking dude! i kno what u meant  
KD: dont worry im gonna do my best!  
KD: i wont let u down dude! :D  
TS: Oh, good. I'll let you get back to it then.  
KD: yeah see u tomorrow!

 _Note to self: be careful about joking with Todoroki. He takes things seriously._ Denki put his phone down and covered his face. _God, that was bad. But otherwise I think it went okay._

 _Man, but now I really do need to study. I've got to have at least the stuff I got from him today. No excuses. You have Yaomomo's tutoring after school tomorrow so you've got to get this right. Like, now._

Steeling his resolve, he dragged himself back to his notebook and dutifully began reading over the notes. Only about halfway down the page, he started thinking about Todoroki again. _It's after Yaomomo's tutoring, so hopefully I have a better grasp of this stuff by then. I feel like I should ask her about this, but the stuff I don't have great notes on should probably be the priority for that._

 _Yeah, I should get help from Yaomomo to review the stuff, so that I can fill out what I didn't get a little more, and then I'll only need Todoroki to help me study. Speaking of! Focus! Finish the page, at least._

He spent a few hours with intermittent studying. If he were totally honest, he spent more time taking breaks than actually reviewing the notes, but by the end of it he did come out with a slightly better grasp of the material, so it wasn't a complete bust. He had a few questions for Yaoyorozu prepared, and he even managed to trudge through a few of his other, much worse, notes. He had many more questions on that material.

With a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast, Denki set out for school once more. It was all routine as ever. Pack into a crowded train (he kept an eye out for Todoroki, unsure if there was a chance they both took the same train, since they live so close by), pass through the school gates, chat with his friends. Classes went as well as they usually did, but he was always aware of Todoroki behind him. He felt like he was being watched, and that ended up just distracting him even more from the lecture. Luckily, it also had the opposite effect of making him more aware of when he was getting off track, since he was self-conscious about it. All in all, it was disconcerting, but evened out as far as his notes and retention were concerned.

When the day came to a close, Denki found the usual study group and they all found a place to set up. Yaoyorozu had already begun reviewing the lectures from Monday when Todoroki silently trod up to them and took a place among the other students. At first, Denki was stupefied. _Why is he here? He's like fifth in class, there's no way he needs Yaomomo to teach him._ But Todoroki noticed his puzzled stare quickly and gestured for him to pay attention to Yaoyorozu again. _Fuck, right._

It was an uneasy few minutes, since Yaoyorozu seemed to be the only one not thrown off by Todoroki's sudden presence. No one said anything until Yaoyorozu finished talking, but once she had and asked for questions, Ashido raised her hand. "What's Todoroki doing here?" She asked. "Uh, I mean, not that we aren't happy to see you, I just mean you don't really need tutoring, do you?"

Todoroki just pursed his lips and replied. "I wanted to observe. I can leave if I'm distracting."

 _He's here for me._ Denki realized. _He wants to see how Yaomomo tutors. And maybe to watch me? Aw, he's actually really serious about it._ Denki couldn't keep the bubbling giddiness down. _He really cares!_ As odd as it was for Todoroki to be there at their tutoring session, and even odder it was for him to conceive that Todoroki was there for him, to help him specifically, Denki was really touched. "It's fine." He said. "Right guys?" He looked to everyone else for back up. "It's good to have you here."

Yaoyorozu eagerly repeated the sentiment, followed by everyone else's more wary agreements. It didn't take too long for everyone to get back into the studying mindset, but Todoroki's presence was still acutely felt, especially by Denki. More often than not, the thing that tore his attention from Yaoyorozu was Todoroki, and he smiled when he noticed the other boy beginning to participate in the tutoring session rather than passively watching. He was still quiet, and required much less attention on Yaoyorozu's part than anyone else there, but he did frequently ask questions, a few of which Yaoyorozu didn't even have the answer to.

He noticed a few of his classmates occasionally looking over at Todoroki as well, but they continued as normal despite obviously wondering what his purpose was. Ashido, bless her heart, seemed to come to the same conclusion as Denki did for why Todoroki was there, and kept sending him suggestive looks over her books. He didn't particularly mind, because even though he obviously couldn't be totally sure that Todoroki was there to learn how to tutor him better, that's what he chose to believe. And he couldn't stop grinning like a fool the entire time because of it.

Todoroki didn't talk to nearly anyone but Yaoyorozu, though. Once or twice, he answered a question while Yaoyorozu was busy with another classmate, but he seemed to only be using the time to watch everyone and to study. Denki was pretty sure that he spent more time watching him than any of their classmates, except Yaoyorozu, which was further evidence to support his suspicions about Todoroki's motives. But by the end of their tutoring session, Todoroki was mostly just what he said he would be: an observer. He even left a few minutes early, apologizing for being a distraction before he did so. Yaoyorozu, and the others, now accustomed to his presence, insisted that he was always welcome.

Ashido saddled up to Denki once Yaoyorozu released them all. "So, tutoring, huh?"

Denki could barely manage more than an incoherent squeal. "I can't believe he did that!"

"He's clearly taking it seriously!" She slapped his back. "Which means you better appreciate him!"

"I am! I'm going to make him glad he decided to tutor me!"

Ashido waggled her eyebrows. "Are you?"

"Not like that!" She cackled as his face turned red. "Stop that!"

"Okay, okay, but only because you're adorable. But geez, it makes me wish I thought of asking Todoroki. He's really going to set you straight!"

"Straight is the last thing he's going to make me."

"You can't tell me to stop it and then say things like that, man."

He giggled. "Okay, that's fair. Let's both stop it."

"You got it, but you better not be planning to leave me in the dust when Todoroki turns you into a genius! Let's both move up and make Aoyama last in the class!"

"Yeah! I'm getting excited!"

"Ooh, by the way, when are you meeting with Todoroki?"

"Tomorrow!"

"What? Saturday?"

"Mhmm!" Denki stood proudly. "He invited me to his place so we can work together."

Ashido shook her head and sighed. "You're making it very hard not to tease you, you know. But you're actually going to study on Saturday?! Yikes."

"Well I need to pick up my grades! We both know it's the only way I'll make any progress."

"Geez, you really are excited about this. Now I _know_ you're going to leave me behind."

Denki stopped and looked at her as seriously as he could manage. "Mina, I will drag you up to eighteenth in class with me if I have to. I am never going to leave you behind."

"Aw!" She wrapped him up in a tight hug. "You're the best friend I could hope for."

"I know."

She smacked him on the arm for his retort. "But seriously, why are you suddenly so serious about your grades?"

Denki shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just don't want to let him down, you know? Todoroki. He volunteered his free time to help me and I can't let him feel like it's for nothing, so I have to do well! I need to show him some improvement!"

Ashido nodded. "I get it. I'll try extra hard too, so I can keep up."

They grinned at each other and slipped into other topics as they made their way off campus and eventually separated to head towards their respective homes.

When Denki finally settled down to sleep, he found that he was restless, his thoughts filled with thoughts about how the next day would go. When he did finally nod off, though, he slept peacefully.

It seemed like no time at all before Denki was packing up his bag in preparation for his journey to Todoroki's house. He double-checked that he had everything he would need and then double-checked his own reflection, examining his clothes, fixing his hair, changing his shirt, re-fixing his hair. _Calm down, it's just for studying._

 _But, like, you have to make a good impression if his family's there, right? Right._ He chuckled nervously at his own reflection and checked the time for the umpteenth time that minute. _But what if it weirds out Todoroki? I'm not exactly a dressy guy. But I don't want to look bad in front of his mom or Endeavor. Ugh, what am I supposed to do?_

 _I mean, has Todoroki even seen me outside of my school uniform? I could pull off a button-up, right? Yeah. Right? I do wear this casually, so it should count. It's just… nice casual. Yeah, this is fine._ He left the top two buttons of his grey shirt unbuttoned, to stay casual, fussed with his hair one last time, and tore himself away from the mirror. _I remembered to pack my notebook, right?_

He checked once more and picked up his bag and skateboard and forced himself to leave the house. _And you're out the door. No more worrying. You look freaking great and the whole Todoroki household is going to love you and everything will be wonderful._

 _Shit, should I really skate there? What if I'm exposing myself to Endeavor – or to Todoroki – as the young whippersnapper doing kickflips in the street? Oh my god, I'm going to die._

He shook his head. _No, whatever. It's fine. Just chill, you're only going to study. It's not like it really matters if his family thinks I'm worthless. He's tutoring me. Him being better than me is kind of the point._

 _I wonder if this is as weird to them as it is to me. I suppose they would know him better, but… ah, I suppose it doesn't matter. I just need to focus on getting everything straight so I can make him proud._

 _Geez, I'm super nervous though._

He texted Todoroki when he was nearly there and grinned and waved as he rolled up, spotting Todoroki just coming out of the front door. Without missing a beat, Denki jumped to the ground, scooped up his skateboard and ran up to the house. "Hey! Good morning, dude!"

"Good morning." Todoroki said. He eyed Denki's skateboard curiously. "You really do live close."

Denki grinned. "Yeah, pretty much a straight shot down that way. It's actually a pretty nice ride."

Todoroki gave him that gentle, faint smile and turned to walk back inside. "Well, come in. I'm glad you could make it."

"Wouldn't miss it." Denki kicked off his shoes and bent over to arrange them neatly alongside the others, then propped his skateboard up in the entranceway as well. Todoroki gestured for him to follow him deeper into the house, and Denki whistled as he looked around. "Nice place. Traditional. I like it."

Todoroki just shrugged. "Number two hero."

"Speaking of, I have to ask."

"He's not here. My big sister, Fuyumi, is the responsible adult for today."

As he said that, they passed into another large room, where a short woman was lounging on a sofa, watching the news. Denki took note of her snowy hair and the red streaks in it. _Well I know she's a Todoroki, at least._ "You must be Shouto's friend!" She beamed when she caught sight of him. "Make yourself at home."

Denki chuckled nervously. "Ah, thank you." _Wait…_

"Come on." Todoroki said. "We'll study in my room." _Wait, did he make a joke?_ Denki couldn't help the smile that slowly widened on his face.

Todoroki's room was similar to the rest of the house. Neat, stark, with a traditional style that made Denki feel like he was walking through an entirely different world. It wasn't so out of place that it would put him off, though. On the contrary, he liked the change of pace. But the décor was still not something he saw in such quantities on any sort of regular basis.

But unlike the rest of the house, save the one area where Todoroki's sister was relaxing, his room shows signs of being lived in. There were books pulled off the shelves and left on desks, his desk chair was left askew instead of pushed in, the sheets on his bed were just a little rumpled, as if he made the bed but didn't put much effort into it. "Sit anywhere." Todoroki said, making a beeline for his desk and fixing some of the papers on it.

Denki plopped down on the bed, shrugging his own bag off his shoulders so he could take out his supplies. Todoroki hesitated when he picked up a large stack of index cards, but turned and held them out. "These are for you." Denki blinked and looked them over. On one side, a name or a concept or a date. On the other, a list of facts relevant to it. "I was watching you work in class and with Yaoyorozu. I thought that the best way to hold your focus is to have multiple sources of information. That is, those aren't for you to try to memorize and quiz yourself through. They're so you can look at them as I quiz you." He coughed uncomfortably. "Forgive me if I'm a bit awkward. I'm not used to this either."

"Hey, you don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with."

"And yet, I think this is how you'll learn best. I tried to make it as interactive as possible." He cleared his throat. "Why don't we start with your favorite subject? To make this as painless as possible." Denki chuckled, feeling warm knowing that Todoroki was pushing himself for this. "Um, what is your favorite subject?"

"Modern Lit!"

Todoroki's eyes widened. "Really?"

Denki hesitated, feeling his cheeks grow warm under Todoroki's surprised stare. "Well, yeah. I actually kind of like Orwell, though I hear a lot of students don't like his books. Oh! And Hemingway. I love Hemingway. Some people say he's a realist though, but we do read him in Modern Lit so like, I don't know. I just like it!"

Todoroki had an odd expression. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been surprised. It just didn't occur to me that you'd be much of a reader."

Denki grinned. "Oh no, I love reading! I'm super slow though, so I usually can't if it's just the break times at school or anything. That's why you don't see me reading too much."

"Are you good at English, then?"

"Eh… I wouldn't say 'good'. I always just read translations. But I did get a few books in English since I thought it would help. I can get through them, but I'm a slow reader at the best of times so trying to figure out all the grammar and everything is just… ugh. English is one of my better subjects, though."

"I see."

"I really suck at Hero Informatics, though. There's just so many laws around us."

"If you're aiming to be a hero, you need to know all of those laws."

"I know, but it's just so much!"

Todoroki smiled faintly. "I won't pretend it's not dry, though. I understand the difficulty." He shuffled through his notes, marking them a little with his pen. "Why don't we start with Modern Literature, then, for today. To get comfortable. Then we'll go to Hero Informatics and work our way through the subjects to English if we have time."

"Works for me!" Denki shuffled through the stack of index cards, finding that they were arranged by subject and helpfully coded with the name of the subject in the corner. He found the Modern Literature stack and set the others aside, pulling his notebook onto his lap to replace them.

When Todoroki said he wanted to keep the session as interactive as possible, he wasn't kidding. Denki found that he was nearly always engaged just because Todoroki wouldn't let him focus on anything else. He would ask questions all the time, even just a "do you understand" interrupting a particularly long explanation. He had Denki write down key facts. He made Denki provide examples. Denki sometimes felt like he was cheating when he (often) had to look at one of the index cards for an answer, but as they repeated and repeated information, he relied on them less. Whenever he answered correctly, Todoroki would give him that sliver of a smile or tell him he did well and Denki carried that feeling with him through the session. He also had seemingly infinite patience, quashing very quickly Denki's fears of a Bakugou-esque strictness.

The chatter between them, surprisingly, almost never stopped throughout the entire session. Denki could tell that Todoroki was sometimes struggling with what to say, especially when he wasn't just going over more information, but still he would always ensure the dialogue was open. He started talking Denki through math problems he had a hard time figuring out, prompting him with small hints when he needed to remember a fact, or arguing scenarios with him for a strategy. Of course, Denki still did the lion's share of talking when Todoroki wasn't explaining things to him, but Todoroki never let him stray off topic for long. Any tangents would be brought swiftly back to the subject (usually) without making him feel like an idiot in the process.

It started in Modern Literature, when Denki had the most to say that was actually relevant, but Todoroki seemed to let him go off if it actually pertained to the subject. He'd give his own input to tie it together, which helped Denki remember everything. By the time they reached their second subject, Todoroki seemed to be looking for those opportunities, and he nearly always used Denki's wandering mind to his benefit, cutting him off from straying too far, but using the anecdotes or wonderings to reinforce the material. He was the first one Denki had studied with that said, "that's a good point, see how it relates?" instead of, "stop getting off topic", and Denki found that he ended up enjoying his time studying with Todoroki quite a lot. It felt like a conversation rather than a chore, and Denki felt encouraged instead of stupid.

Halfway through their English review, Todoroki's question was cut off by an alarm. His eyes went wide as he hurried to turn it off, and Denki used the break to check the time himself. _What, really? It's been that long?_ "Ah, I'm sorry, Kaminari. I have something to do later, so that's all the time I have today." Todoroki said.

Denki blinked. "Yeah! Of course, dude." He started gathering his scattered materials.

"Take the index cards. They might help you review on your own."

"Thanks, Todoroki." He threw everything in his bag and stood.

Todoroki straightened his own notes and escorted Denki to the entranceway. "So," he said hesitantly, "did I do okay?"

Denki paused wrestling with his shoes to look up at Todoroki. "Are you kidding? I've never felt better about school. You're the best tutor I've ever had! As a matter of fact, could you please continue to help me? I think with your help I might actually be able to get my grades off the ground, you know?"

Todoroki smiled, a much wider one than Denki was used to seeing. "Good. I would be happy to keep helping you."

"Aw, yeah. I can't wait! I'm going to prove I'm not the dumbest in class!"

Todoroki shook his head. "I never thought you were the dumbest." Denki froze, unsure if he had heard correctly. Louder, Todoroki said, "Since we live so close by, it might be more prudent to have more smaller sessions rather than one weekly that lasts all morning. What do you think?"

"Huh? Oh, sure. I can really come over anytime I don't have after school stuff."

"How does two per week sound? One on Wednesday after school and one on Saturdays like today. Then we only have to cover half the week. You said you're free on Wednesdays, right?"

"Sure am! Wednesday works great for me. Just, like, text me the time or whatever, yeah?"

"Right. Well, I need to start getting ready."

"Of course. And dude, thanks again. I had a lot of fun today, and learned a lot, too!" Denki grinned wildly as he grabbed his skateboard and waved goodbye.

Todoroki seemed surprised, but gave him a "you're welcome" before Denki was out the door and skating back towards his own home.

Denki felt like he was vibrating. The bubbles in his chest kept popping and sending his entire body through little shockwave after shockwave. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't keep the dumb grin off his face. _He did that! All that! For me!_ "Ahhhhhhh!" Denki covered his face for a moment as he skated along the road. _Okay. Okay, we're cool._ He took a deep breath. _Don't freak out yet. Get the best grades you've ever gotten before. Back up what you said with real results. Prove that Todoroki's effort was worth it._

He hardened his gaze and his giddy grin turned into one of confidence and determination. _You've got this._


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Todoroki!" Denki ran ahead of Ashido and Jirou when he caught sight of the other boy. He ran over to where Todoroki was chatting with Midoriya and Yaoyorozu. "Todoroki! Yaomomo! Check it out!" With a big grin on his face, Denki pulled the previous day's quiz from his bag, holding it up for his tutors to see. He had been studying with Todoroki for just a couple weeks and the next midterm was fast approaching, but seeing the results of his quizzes gave Denki confidence.

"Kaminari! You got an A!" Yaoyorozu seemed blessed to be able to witness the letter, and the other two there congratulated him as well. "I'm so proud of you. Keep this up and you'll be a top student!"

Denki turned the paper around to look at it again. He found it was hard to stop. "I hope so! I'm going to blow this midterm away and finally start catching up with you guys!"

"Yeah!" Midoriya said eagerly. "Do your best, Kaminari!"

"I will! But really, it's all thanks to you two." He looked at Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. "Thank you again for always taking the time to help me."

"It's our pleasure, Kaminari." Yaoyorozu said. "Though it is a little frustrating that Todoroki got such fast results with you…"

"Ah, no, I couldn't have done it without you either, Yaomomo!"

"Kaminari is improving because he's putting in the effort it takes, not because either of us is a better tutor." Todoroki said. "Besides, you're tutoring everyone else, too. It makes sense that he'd do better when he gets private lessons. What you've done is more amazing; I couldn't do the same thing if I had as many people showing up."

"Yeah!" Ashido hooked Denki with her arm, dragging him close. "And the rest of us don't have special lessons, so we're all relying on you, Yaomomo!"

"Truthfully," Todoroki said, "I just watched you to learn how to tutor Kaminari. Of course, I adapted it to him in particular, but that's just the benefits of private tutoring."

Yaoyorozu's smile was infectious, and everyone kept complimenting her until she changed the subject herself.

"A-anyway, I'm glad you're putting so much effort into your studies, but I hope you aren't neglecting your training."

Denki laughed. "What, neglect the fun part? No way!"

"Good. Remember we have another practical exercise in Foundational Heroics today."

"That was today?!"

Midoriya seemed surprised. "Don't you remember? All Might reminded us yesterday that we need to get in our costumes and meet at Ground Beta."

"What? Really? I must have missed it!"

Jirou elbowed him in the side. "And here we all thought you were doing better in class."

Denki covered the area she hit defensively. "I know the material better; I didn't suddenly grow an attention span."

Todoroki snorted. "Well, we should get to class."

Denki trailed after the rest of the group as they headed for the classroom. "Hey, wait, what are we doing in Heroics?"

"We can't be sure." Midoriya muttered. "All Might only told us it was a battle trial, but what twist or what its meant to train beyond our combat capabilities is totally unknown. He likes to take us by surprise, though, so it's probably something totally unexpected."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Ashido said. "I hope it's something fun."

Denki nodded. "Like the entrance exam!"

"Yeah!"

Midoriya looked at them both with mild horror etched into his face. "You guys thought that was fun?"

Denki shrugged. "Fighting robots is super easy. One zap and they're fried."

"And my acid just eats right through! I don't have to worry about hurting anyone."

"I suppose it would be different for people whose quirks are well suited to fighting robots…" Midoriya said. "Though it does call into question the effectiveness of the exam, even with the hidden hero points considered."

"Yeah, yeah, because, like, kids with quirks that aren't great for it are at a disadvantage, right? Like the brainwash kid." Denki said. "He seemed cool. It's a shame he's stuck in general studies."

"Shinsou, right?" Ashido asked. "I thought he was kind of scary at first."

"But, like, I think he was trying to be!" Denki exclaimed. "Showing up to our class with that declaration of war and everything. Hey, do you guys think if he brainwashed another entrant and made them break the robots, would he have gotten the points or the one he mind-jacked?"

"Considering how it ended for him," Yaoyorozu said, "it's most likely that the other entrant would have gotten the points."

Denki shivered. "Yikes. That would be so weird, wouldn't it? Like woah, I totally blanked out for the exam but I guess I got in."

Jirou shook her head. "Of course, if they're anything like Ojiro they refuse the acceptance anyway because they didn't do it themselves."

"Isn't he so noble? You got to respect a guy who stands up for his values."

"Yeah." Jirou and Ashido both snickered, giving him suggestive glances. "Noble. Respect."

"Oh, shut up, you two!" He chuckled, despite his protests. "I'm just saying, someone like that is going to make a great hero, and those pro scouts were stupid not to want him."

Ashido sighed. "I agree it's really sad that he ended up without a bunch of nominations."

"Exactly! I get that he didn't show off in the last event like we did, but if they couldn't see his potential then those pros don't know what they're doing."

"But even then," Midoriya said, "Ojiro didn't really get to make an impression during the cavalry battle either. That whole team was kind of a surprise even for us and he was being controlled the entire time. And there were just so many participants in the obstacle course that it would be unrealistic to expect that the pros would pay attention to him especially when we had people like Kacchan and Todoroki in front with much flashier quirks."

"Midoriya's right." Yaoyorozu said. "I don't doubt that his choice drew some attention to him, but since few if any of the pros actually had any idea what he's capable of, we couldn't expect them to extend nominations on his heart alone."

Denki groaned. "I get it. Nothing we can do about it now, anyway, right? That's long over. Oh man I'm getting pumped for Heroics now though. I can't wait! I hope we crush some robots."

"That seems unlikely…"

"What if it's another team challenge? I always get nervous in teams, since I can't go all out."

Denki kept brainstorming, with enthusiastic help from Ashido and the occasional input from the others, all the way to the locker rooms. Once they were changed and back together in front of Ground Beta, it didn't take long for All Might to show up and lead them deep into the simulated city.

Denki's mind worked overtime as he kept guessing what their exercise would be, but it became relatively clear when they approached a square littered with comically crude caricature cutouts of what Denki assumed were supposed to be civilians. They were stood up all around, hundreds of them lining the square so that they were boxed in. "A villain has a number of ways to win a battle." All Might said. "Kill, escape, injure, and more! But a hero only has one, and that's to capture the villain without any victims.

"You each will fight one of your classmates one-on-one. Your goal: to capture your opponent with the capture tape without damaging any of the civilians you see around you! There won't be a 'hero' and a 'villain' in this simulation, so it's in both your interests to keep damage to a minimum." _Oh, hell._ "To prevent you both from just taking the fight elsewhere where you're not in danger of hurting anyone, we're restricting the battle arena to this square."

 _Well, that's fine. I can't shock indiscriminately, but so long as I can tag them I should be able to paralyze them long enough to get the capture tape around them. I just need to touch them. I'll be fine so long as I'm not against someone like Bakugou or-_ "Todoroki, Kaminari, why don't you two start us off?"

"Fuck me." Denki muttered. Kirishima slapped him on the back, shouting out something encouraging.

 _Okay, calm down. You can do this._ He took the capture tape from All Might and began heading into the square to take his place. _This will end in a moment, most likely. I can't let out a huge shock right away, and even if I could he could probably block it. So I need to get in close as fast as possible._

 _But he knows that and he's probably going to try to cut me off. He's a long range fighter anyway, so there's no way he'll let me close enough to tag him. And his suit has that thermoregulating shit so there's no chance I can get close enough before he can freeze my ass off._

 _I absolutely have to dodge his first attack. He likes that jump-start, so any advantage I can get on him, the better. As a matter of fact, the longer I can draw this out, the better for me. Course, with all these dummies around, he can't use that ridiculous ice wall, so that's good._

 _Fire is arguably more dangerous, but he also isn't as great at controlling it, so I might be at more of an advantage if I can make him switch. But with the whole "being on fire" thing, an approach on his right is safer for my own health if I want to get close enough to tag him._

 _So, I guess I have to last long enough that he's forced to use fire, and then catch his right when he switches. God, I'm so dead. Well, Denki, just count your lucky stars that he's not a villain. If you had to protect the citizens from him you may as well just bend over right now._

"Start!"

Denki jumped, timing it with the layer of ice snaking under his feet so that his shoes didn't get frozen to the asphalt. "Fuck."

Civilians were also placed throughout the square, not just on the outside, which was a blessing in disguise for Denki, since Todoroki couldn't just freeze the entire place. A small hop sideways and he had traction again for his fevered sprint. Despite the danger it put him in, he did his best to ensure none of the cutouts were between him and Todoroki at any point, and he noticed Todoroki doing the same.

Denki started to feel the familiar rush bubble up inside him. _Stay calm._ He danced this way and that as Todoroki swept spikes of ice up at him, his natural reflexes the only thing that kept him in the game.

But he was closing in fast on Todoroki, and when he had put himself between his classmate and the last civilian between them, he realized his mistake a moment before it happened. The ice surged toward him, but he was too close to the fake civilian, so he dropped to his stomach and kicked the base of the dummy out from under it. When he felt the gentle impact of the cardboard on his back and saw the menacing wave of ice overhead, he immediately rolled to that he was on top of the civilian, on all fours.

His heart was pounding, he couldn't keep the grin off his face. "Oh man, I really am getting amped!" He took off like a sprinter and slid around the edge of the ice wall, finding Todoroki to be closer than expected. _Walked toward us when he thought he hurt the bystander?_

Denki reached for Todoroki, but his hand was slapped away and his shoes frozen to the ground in an instant. Todoroki left him there like that for a moment, his mismatched eyes sharp and calculating. Denki cheered. "All right! Time to get serious!" The grin on his face grew when he realized that Todoroki couldn't easily get the capture tape on him without touching him. The excitement in him drowned out his reminder to stay calm. _That's an advantage. Now I can get rid of that vest._

Electricity crackled across Denki's skin. "Time to show you how strong I am!" He put his hands together, arcing the surge between them, a gleeful smile on his face.

Todorki's eyes went wide. "Kami-"

"EMP!" A sharp, strong arc of lightning snapped between Denki's hands, and he smiled when Todoroki's hand went to the neckline of his vest. A piercing squeal of a note sounded over the loudspeaker before silencing not a second later. In one motion, Denki bent down and grabbed one shoelace in each hand, untying them with one pull as he stood straight again and leaped clean out of his frozen shoes. He touched down on them so that he had something to push off of and dove for Todoroki.

He had, successfully, caught Todoroki by surprise, but the other boy was just too quick. In close quarters, even Denki's reflexes couldn't keep him safe at every exchange, and Todoroki slipped through his fingers like water.

A few seconds of that dance and Denki was too amped not to risk it. He knew it was probably stupid, but there was a chance and he saw it and he took it. Todoroki spun, ice trailing after his foot, but Denki was only a couple feet away. He reached out, his electricity jumping already in preparation to be discharged. Once again, Denki didn't manage to touch Todoroki, but they were so close that he could feel the air move on his fingertips. So, he discharged.

A wall of ice blocked his view, his arm was suddenly numb. Denki shook, grinned, and let loose. The ice shattered, and his head started to grow foggy. _Shit._ Denki stumbled. _No, I'm okay. I'm fine._ It was hard to think, a dense cotton covering any thought that came to mind. He was tired. Physically and emotionally drained. He saw colors move, people approaching, knew their names but didn't recognize them. A dual-colored boy took his hands gently. A moment later, Denki wondered vaguely why his hands were warm, realizing for the fourth time that someone was holding them.

He tried to grin, to smile, to reassure his friends he was okay. He couldn't remember who was with him, and checked again. Emotion bubbled in his chest, but not the excitement of battle or the gentler but just as intense adoration of knowing someone cared about him. Terror sent a tremor through him, and he wanted to scream but his mouth wouldn't work. He wanted to reassure Todoroki, with that gentle look and those careful hands, but his body wouldn't listen to him. His gut twisted, he felt sick, it was as hard to keep his lunch down as it was to keep his eyes open.

Still, he couldn't smile, couldn't think. When other people joined him in the square, he looked over to Todoroki, fiddling with some tape around Denki's wrists. He couldn't tell if he was being tied or untied. He wondered how Todoroki got there so fast when the group of people was still halfway across the square. His hands were free but a hand was still on his arm and his shoulder and he was being walked somewhere. The buildings didn't make sense to him, so he couldn't tell where. He tried to smile at one of the odd, frozen people they passed by, but to his frustration, his muscles just didn't seem to work. Denki stumbled a few times, he was dizzy, and felt guilty because he couldn't force out words to thank Todoroki each time he caught him.

People were talking to him, but what he managed to interpret was either quickly forgotten or was useless anyway because he couldn't respond. His heart raced, his breathing was uneven, he wanted to tear out his throat and shake it until it coughed up something, any coherent response, but he couldn't even get his hands to his neck. He heard laughing. His organs felt like a writhing mass of snakes inside him.

And no matter what he did, what he tried, it just persisted. He couldn't think, couldn't control his own body, couldn't swallow down the terror that threatened to gnaw away his soul, couldn't tell anyone not to worry, or just how much he hated being like that.

He knew, of course, going into the battle that he could end up in that state. He knew it was a side effect of his quirk and he knew he too often got caught up in the moment and lost control or went too far. He knew everyone saw him like that before, knew he'd made the same mistake before. He knew they thought it was funny. He liked that they thought that. He wished he could find it funny. At least if they were laughing, they didn't worry about him. And he'd take snide jests about it over a heart-to-heart over it any day.

That was probably why, when his head finally started to clear and he could finally move his arms again and his lips made silent but meaningful words once more, when he saw Todoroki lounging impassively next to him, the fear didn't disappear with the symptoms of his drained state.

Denki raised a shaky arm to wipe away the stream of drool on his chin as everything came more and more back into focus. It was slow, but Todoroki seemed to notice pretty quickly. "Hey." He said. His eyes narrowed. Denki wanted to flinch away, but he was still sluggish and ended up just kind of leaning a little. "How do you feel?"

Denki knew better than to try to talk. No previous attempt at that stage of recovering ever worked, after all. Instead, he just sat up as much as he could and put a careful smile on his face.

"Still nonverbal?" Denki felt his cheeks warm a little as he nodded. People rarely saw him actually recovering from his quirk's side effect. Really, it was just his family and his school nurses. Everyone saw him when he was drained, but then he was taken away until he was back to normal. Having Todoroki watch him try to regain himself was embarrassing and a little disconcerting.

"But you're back." Todoroki said. It wasn't a question, but Denki hesitantly nodded anyway. His mind was clear enough that he could communicate, though his mouth disagreed. He flexed his arms and fingers, trying to regain as much dexterity as quickly as he could. "Good." A long sigh. "Why do you do that to yourself?" He said it quietly, so Denki couldn't be sure if he was actually supposed to hear it. He chose to pretend that he didn't.

It was a shot in the dark, to try sign language, since he had no reason to believe Todoroki knew it, but he decided to try anyway. "How long was I out?" Denki had to watch his hands and move slowly to be sure he said it right. Even that felt like it took more energy than he had.

Todoroki furrowed his brow, his eyes catching Denki's hands' movement only about halfway through his question. "Sorry?"

"How long was I out?"

"Nearly forty-five minutes."

"Damn. I guess I missed everyone else." He signed.

Todoroki shook his head. "Not everyone. They didn't have time for every pair."

"Really? The fights were that long?"

"No, it just took them thirty minutes to get the cameras and loudspeaker working again after your EMP."

Denki looked at him in shock. "It knocked out the cameras?"

A hint of amusement crossed Todoroki's features. "The cameras, the loudspeaker, and, according to All Might, all the civilian's cell phones. What did you think would happen?"

"I'd knock out your suit. Thought UA had better equipment." With a sheepish smile, he added, "I didn't think about the cell phones. Whoops."

"Yeah, All Might said you got points off for that. You did throw off my thermoregulator though, which he also said was clever." _Not that it made a difference._ Denki just smiled. Despite everything, he felt pretty good about his attempt since it was Todoroki he was up against. "All Might will give you a full review before we continue in tomorrow's class, so I guess I don't need to go into it right now." Denki nodded to show he understood. _I probably hit a few of the dummies with that last attack, too. God, and I thought it was the academic classes that I was bad in._

"How did the others do?" He signed.

Todoroki shook his head. "Later." The gaze he fixed on Denki was serious, piercing. Denki's stomach dropped. "Kaminari, are you sure you're okay?"

Denki had the presence of mind and enough control to make his smile a bright and cheery one, but Todoroki didn't seem convinced. He pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "I'm serious. It's scary seeing you like that."

Denki found his breath harder to come by. Still, he refused to show concern. He waved it off, keeping his expression happy, and signed, "Scary? It's just silly is all. It happens all the time, too, don't worry about it."

"You were _unresponsive_ , Kaminari. That's not funny. That's not silly. And honestly, you being so flippant about it is only more concerning."

Denki sighed. It was clear that Todoroki wasn't willing to laugh it off, so he quit the charade and let his smile fall. It was too tiring to keep up for nothing. He pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged them. "You never cared before." He signed.

Todoroki opened his mouth a few times before he found the words. His mismatched gaze seemed to sink into Denki like hot needles. "I didn't think it was my place. But we're friends now, or I thought we were, so I can't just watch. And I was never up close before, either. You didn't even seem to recognize me; you were shaking. You _are_ shaking!" Denki grit his teeth and tried as hard as he could to stop his trembling. "You couldn't move on your own except to stumble around aimlessly – I'm surprised you didn't just fall over. You're still nonverbal. How can you expect me not to worry?"

"It's happened before."

Todoroki stood and started pacing a little. His face twisted into something Denki couldn't identify, but knew he didn't like. "And here I am talking to Recovery Girl to make sure that these _repeated_ episodes aren't doing any lasting damage!"

"You think I haven't had that conversation before?"

"Maybe you have, but _I_ didn't know! You go out in practice and put yourself in that state and I don't understand how you can do that to yourself for the sake of an exercise."

Denki curled up tighter, signing, "You're supposed to laugh," before putting his hands back on his legs and squeezing himself into the smallest ball be could.

"Laugh?" Todoroki scoffed. "What is so funny about it? I don't care if it happens daily, I'm still not going to find it funny when my friend shuts down."

"I'm fine."

"You can barely even say that."

Denki took a deep breath to steady his hands. "I'm fine, Todoroki. I know myself. This is all normal."

Todoroki ran his hands down his face and sighed. His anger seemed to collapse along with him when he sat back in his chair. "I just… don't understand." _Probably because you can't. You'll never have to go through this because of your quirk._ "Why do you put yourself through this? You don't need to go so far." _What else would I do?_

"I just get excited. I always lose my cool in battle."

"I know that isn't true, Kaminari. You're always aware of your allies, and always careful not to hurt them."

"It's just adrenaline. I stop thinking about overexerting."

Todoroki kept pushing, not accepting Denki's reasons. "How can you just forget about that? It's terrifying for me; I can only imagine what you feel."

"It's not that bad."

"Your shaking is worse. Just talking about it is doing this."

"Then let it go."

Todoroki exhaled harshly in frustration. "Fine. But only for now." His voice softened, as did his expression. He stood again to gently touch Denki's shoulder. "I'll wait until you've recovered more. Can you answer one more question, though? Honestly?"

Denki shrugged.

"Is it really not scary for you? When you're like that?"

 _It's the longest hours of my life. Thirty to ninety minutes of the worst nightmare you can imagine. Like I'm watching through the eyes of someone else, but you know it's you, and you can't think on top of it._ "I'm used to it." He signed. "You don't need to worry."

Todoroki let out a disappointed sigh. Denki didn't lie, but he figured Todoroki could tell he avoided giving a straight answer. "Okay. I'll let you rest. See you tomorrow." He left the room and shut the door behind him without looking back. In his state, Denki couldn't have stopped him if he wanted to.

He stayed in Recovery Girl's nurse's office for a while longer after Todoroki left. Even though he knew everyone was in class and that for his own good, or rather for the good of his grades, he should go as well, he couldn't bring himself to stand up.

He really was trying his best in class, which was why he hated relying on his stupid drained state as an excuse to miss as much as possible. He didn't even really have an excuse anymore, anyway. He was perfectly capable of taking notes and of listening. But as he tested his voice, his resolve crumbled. _Still not back to normal._

It was fine. He didn't really want to see Todoroki, anyway. The whole exchange left him even more exhausted than usual. It had been a while since he tried to talk so soon after he drained himself like that. To hold a conversation was difficult. He felt like he was pushing up against a wall, trying to force words through it. Signing was easier, but though he could follow the conversation and respond appropriately that way, it still took a lot of effort to do so.

Denki thought he should consider his next move. Todoroki didn't seem like he was going to forget their conversation anytime soon, and he clearly didn't believe Denki's platitudes. But the longer he sat there, the harder he tried to think about it, the more tired he got. It took too much effort and he couldn't summon any more, not after the talk itself. So, deciding there was no point in returning to class – he couldn't talk, couldn't face Todoroki, and could barely stay awake – he just laid back down and allowed himself to stop thinking at all. It didn't take long for him to start drifting off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

"It's time for you to wake up now." A warm voice called him back to wakefulness, but he couldn't summon the energy to open his eyes. He groaned and curled into the bed instead. "None of that, young man. It's time for you to go home."

Denki forced himself to a sitting position and yawned. "How are you feeling?" He looked over to Recovery Girl.

"Fine?" He smiled when his voice sounded as it usually did, and repeated himself with more vigor. "Fine! Much better now, thank you."

"Good. Last period is over, so you should get going."

"Ah, right. Thank you so much, Recovery Girl!" Denki jumped to his feet. After his nap, he recovered a lot of his energy. Plenty for the rest of the day at least. _I need to figure out what I missed._ He entered the nearly empty hallway and grimaced as he weighed his options. _Todoroki's a no-go. No chance I'm stirring that pot. God, why couldn't he have just laughed at me like everyone else? I might be able to avoid him for a couple days, but we've got tutoring on Saturday and I can't get out of that._

 _I'm finally catching up, or I think I am. If I call off the tutoring because of this, then everything will have been for nothing. But how am I supposed to walk into that? If he tries to talk all serious about it again I can't blame being out of it for how I react. If I start shaking or get queasy trying to talk about it, there's no way he'd ever let it go. Then I could end up worrying him every time we do a practical exercise or quirk training._

 _Fuck, I can't avoid talking to Todoroki. Not forever. I just have no idea how to prepare myself for that conversation._

"Kaminari!" Denki looked up to see Iida walking stiffly toward him. "I'm glad I caught you!"

"Oh, Iida! What's up? Aren't classes over?"

"Yes, but since you didn't make it back to class, I thought I should take it upon myself as class president to check on you. I just wanted to ensure you are okay and also give you the homework from the classes you missed."

"Aw, man. Homework?" Denki accepted the stack of papers that Iida offered, looking at it wearily.

"Todoroki and I also put notes together for the classes you missed, but please don't hesitate to get in contact with me if you have questions."

Denki flipped through the papers to find some notes under the homework. "Huh? Todoroki did?" He was surprised to see that he recognized Todoroki's handwriting and note-taking style.

"Yes. When I mentioned I would make an extra copy of notes for you, he insisted on helping. I would suggest you thank him when you next see him."

"I, uh…" Denki blinked at the notes. "Right, yeah. I will. And thank you, Class Pres. I was worried about falling behind."

"I've noticed how hard you've been trying in class, and couldn't in good conscience allow you to fall behind for something like this. I am always available if you require help."

Denki felt that fluttering in his chest that happened when someone complimented him. He grinned, unable to contain himself. "Aw, thanks." With a quick scan of the notes, though, Denki was pretty sure that he was relatively safe. He didn't see too much that would be difficult, and he had Yaoyorozu's study group to ask questions about it. He was pretty sure he could, at the very least, grasp everything well enough that he wasn't in danger of something blindsiding him the next day. "I think I can manage with this, though. It's really well put together. Thanks a lot, man."

"Of course. Are you heading to the station?"

"Uh, yeah. I don't have anything after school today, so…"

"Why don't we walk together?"

Almost from the moment he agreed, Iida went off on what Denki could only assume was a word for word account of the afternoon's lectures. It was endearing, if nothing else, and since the first thing Denki's mind wandered to was almost always Todoroki, and he definitely did _not_ want to think about that, he managed to listen fairly well.

For his own sake, he asked questions and chatted along with Iida until they reached the train station, where they had to part ways. Surrounded only by strangers, Denki tried to think more about Iida's recount of the lessons rather than the inevitable talk with Todoroki, but he didn't end up doing too well in those attempts.

Without notes in front of him, all the information just floated around in his head and he couldn't make heads nor tails of it. He didn't have the visual to reinforce what went into his head, so he felt like it mostly just slipped right back out, lost to crowded train car. _I can't take out my entire notebook now, though. I wish I had Todoroki's index cards to look at._

 _Of course, when I get this set it'll be…_ He shook his head. _Damn it. And things were going so well._ When Denki closed his eyes, he could see Todoroki's expression. Eyes narrowed, brow furrowed, the corners of his lips twisting into un unenthusiastic scowl. He could hear Todoroki's words. _"Only for now". What are the odds I just imagined that? Maybe he really did let it go and I was just too exhausted. Maybe I dreamed the entire thing and Todoroki laughed about it along with everyone else. Not unbelievable. I'd still be fooling myself, though._

 _Why does he care, though? I mean, obviously I understand that it's scary. I'm petrified when it happens. But even Jirou and Mina were willing to laugh it off when I did. He just doesn't get that I don't have a choice. Not if I really want to be a hero. I can't afford to half-ass everything like him. I can't use only half my power and still be top in the class._

 _"Is it scary?" Of course it's freaking scary. Who wouldn't find that terrifying? But if I let that stop me, I'll never catch up. It's better if it's a joke. Then, I can go all out without making my friends worry about me._

Denki was quiet the rest of the day. When he arrived at his home, he dutifully took out the notes that Iida and Todoroki had prepared for him and used them to complete the homework. He studied those notes a little longer than he usually would have because he wasn't in class for the lecture, but otherwise his evening was an average if not slow one. It gave his mind lots of time to wander, but no matter how much he lingered on Todoroki, he couldn't think of a solution. He knew he wouldn't, and that he'd just have to face it when it came. _Which I can do. If there's anything I can do, it's talk._

 _Well, maybe not verbally, apparently, but whatever. Honestly, since he's seen me like that, it's hard to think there's anything I can say that'll get him to let it go. I'll just… face it like a man, I guess. Eventually, anyway. Like hell am I going to let him confront me about it in school. I am not okay with delving into that in school._

He sighed into his resolution, not happy about it but accepting there was no other way around it. Hero class – hero school – was so different from middle school. Something like that, a classmate seeing him overwork himself and worry over him, didn't happen before. Since quirks were so restrained, he only ever really drained himself by accident, and because of how the classes were set up he'd just be whisked away before the other students, if there were any around at all, even really understood there was anything wrong at all. And it wasn't as if quirk-related accidents were rare. No one gave it a second thought. Only at UA, in hero training, did his health and safety really become something so apparent.

Maybe it was because of the villain incidents. With everything at USJ and Todoroki specifically being one of the few who was in Hosu during the attack, Denki couldn't blame him for being alarmed by his classmate becoming unresponsive. They'd seen the real dangers, they knew how bad it got, so it wasn't something they could laugh off anymore. From that perspective, Denki felt a little guilty for worrying Todoroki like that.

But there wasn't anything he could do except wait it out, because god knows he wasn't going to go looking for that conversation. So, he did his best to put it behind him and tried to live out the following day as normally as possible. For the most part, he succeeded. Friday's classes were fine. He felt Todoroki's eyes on him, but he just grinned and bore the attention. So long as Todoroki didn't say anything, neither would he. His already terrible attention span ensured that the new distraction didn't really have too much of an overall effect as far as his studies were concerned.

The only other thing that indicated Todoroki was even still interested was when he pulled Denki aside at the start of lunch period. "Kaminari." He had said, appearing right next to Denki's desk before Kirishima or Ashido had time to pull him off to his usual lunch group.

"Hey, Todoroki. What's up?" The words felt stupid on his lips, since he knew very well exactly why Todoroki was there.

"Can we continue that conversation from yesterday, please?" The look in his eyes betrayed little of what he was feeling.

Denki didn't like that. Under the inscrutable gaze of his classmate, he shifted in his seat, felt his confidence shake. For a moment, just at the moment he began his response, he couldn't face Todoroki. "…Okay. But, uh…" He noticed Kirishima nearby, looking curious. "How about we meet up sometime out of school?"

Todoroki nodded and turned away. "I won't bother you tonight. I know you need to study with Yaoyorozu. I'll make some extra time tomorrow, does that work?"

"Sure thing, dude."

Todoroki walked away briskly. Kirishima stepped up to Denki's desk to fill the gap. "Uh, should I be worried?" He pointed at Todoroki's retreating back.

"Nah man, it's nothing." Denki waved it off with a smile. "He just wants to talk about yesterday's Foundational Heroics exercise. When we talked yesterday I was still a little, ah, dazed, so he's just helping me out."

Kirishima frowned. "You sure? Didn't he seem a little cold?"

"It's just 'cause I was so close to beating him!"

That elicited a snicker. "I'm not sure about that, but you sure did great! Everyone thought you were super cool! While we could still watch, anyway."

"Hah, right. I should probably apologize about that. I didn't think I'd take out the surveillance cameras!"

They laughed together and it seemed that Kirishima had, thankfully, forgotten or dropped the topic of Todoroki. Ashido gave him some pointed looks to say she had definitely seen Todoroki talking to him, but otherwise Denki concluded she didn't manage to hear, and so had nothing incriminating against him.

He went with his friends to lunch and, in the midst of conversation, allowed Todoroki to leave his mind. He just enjoyed his time socializing as usual. In Heroics, he received a review from All Might that left a bitter taste in his mouth – apparently frying civilian cell phones is not only a sure way to make everyone hate you, but also cut them off from calling for help or spreading word of an incident. He was praised for his quick thinking in saving the civilian, but warned that he had taken advantage of the fact that they weren't real since the cardboard wouldn't even knock his breath out of him when it fell onto him. Examination of the battle zone afterwards also revealed three civilians that were zapped by his last discharge. Not unexpected, but Denki still felt guilty.

To everyone's surprise, Todoroki actually stood up for him, saying that since the cameras went out, they couldn't see how close Denki had gotten to winning. "I was stunned, too, after his last attack. If he had a higher threshold and was able to follow up, he definitely would have won." He also reminded All Might that the only reason he hadn't harmed any of the civilians was that Denki had protected them, so they weren't so unequal.

All Might reminded Todoroki that they couldn't afford to incapacitate themselves, so it wouldn't matter in the end how close Denki had gotten if he made himself dumb. Todoroki gave Denki a meaningful glance as if to emphasize All Might's words, as if he planned to draw that observation out of All Might. Denki wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"But young Kaminari did well." All Might concluded. "He thought about his opponent's weakness and tried to take advantage of it. Even if it didn't work out this time, he's on the right track. Now, let's continue with our next pair!"

Denki fought the urge to curl into himself. Despite All Might's conclusion, he didn't feel good about the results. He had tried to deactivate Todoroki's suit, yes, and had done so, but his enthusiasm had sent him in for the close before he could fully enact his plan to make Todoroki switch quirks. He got fired up and lost control. Not to mention the look Todoroki sent him felt like he had dropped ice in Denki's gut. And though he and everyone else knew how careful he was about his quirk with his allies and with civilians, he had still discharged without concern for the dummies. That was also taking advantage of the fact that it was a test. Even in his adrenaline-fueled battle rush, he would never have done that if those had been real people.

He only shook off his mood with the help of his friends' commentary and the distraction of the battle between Kirishima and Asui on the monitors. It took just a moment for him to start getting into it, and he managed to continue through the rest of the day, including the study group with Yaoyorozu, without much else of note.

But of course, the end of the day also came with the start of the next one, and Denki found himself at Todoroki's door in what felt like no time at all.

As usual, Todoroki met him at the door and escorted him to his room. Despite having been over twice a week for a couple weeks already, and even sharing lunch with the Todoroki family once, he hadn't seen Todoroki's parents even once. Denki figured they were just busy. He went over at the same time, after all. If they were at work or had some other obligation, they would miss each other every time. Still, he was starting to grow just a little concerned for a variety of reasons. The least of which, that Denki was still nervous about making a good first impression on them. Without knowing if they'd ever show up, he couldn't prepare properly for an introduction.

"I understand if you would rather have this conversation after our review," Todoroki said when he shut the door behind them. "But I've been restraining myself, and I worry I won't be as effective a tutor if I can't get it off my mind first. I'll leave the decision to you."

Denki collapsed on Todoroki's bed, laying back so he was only looking at the ceiling. "It's fine. Say what you need."

Denki hadn't felt it before, but the moment between his approval and Todoroki finally speaking was filled with all the tension he knew they both felt about the topic. All of Todoroki's effort to let him be and bide his time before talking, elastic stretched too tightly. All of Denki's nerves about confronting a topic he hadn't seriously had a heart-to-heart about almost since it started (and then, he was just a kid, so it wasn't even as tense), a thick weight in the air, compressing both of them.

He felt it, that tension, that pressure, the moment before it snapped. "I understand that this isn't a comfortable topic for you, but please don't lie to me, Kaminari."

Todoroki's voice was even and measured, but it still sent chills down Denki's spine. "I won't."

A hum, not convinced. "Recovery Girl said that it doesn't hurt you beyond the temporary effects." Denki responded with his own hum. "But can't you understand why it's concerning to me?"

He did, sort of. It was scary. But could he understand why Todoroki was making such a fuss about it? Why he couldn't sit content in the knowledge that Denki was doing everything he could to make sure he wasn't in that position while in danger, and also that it wasn't inherently harmful for him? "No. Not really."

Todoroki was quiet for a moment. Denki felt a weight on the edge of the bed. "When Midoriya walked into the sports festival, did you worry about him at all? Did it not worry you that he willingly went on stage and broke his own bones to compete?"

Denki sat up, coming unexpectedly close to Todoroki. He grit his teeth and couldn't keep the frown off his face. "What are you talking about? Midoriya was destroying his body with a single attack. This isn't the same thing."

"It is."

"Midoriya was damaged permanently by it. It had lasting effects."

"Yes, but when did you find out about that? Before, or after?"

"Being stupid for an hour is not the same as breaking every bone in my freaking arms, Todoroki."

"No, you're right. It's far more frightening."

Denki scoffed. "You have a weird idea of what's scary, man."

"Listen." Todoroki took him by the shoulders and frowned. "When Midoriya comes back with his fingers and arms broken, I know what we're dealing with. He's perfectly aware of what's happening, even through that pain. He even, because he's Midoriya, always tried to reassure us. On top of that, his struggle is at least taken seriously and he was always thinking about how to overcome it." Todoroki let him go so that he could turn away and lean on his knees. "But you're unresponsive. Even knowing that you're going to recover with time, you have no way to communicate. What if you needed something? Or if it isn't the same, and no one knows to do anything different? Most people just laugh at you. And you don't even try to stop it."

"What are you talking about? You think I like going stupid like that? Of course I try to avoid it!"

"You don't even think twice about doing that to yourself for nothing more than an exercise!"

"Well, what would you have me do?" Denki hugged his knees. "I get excited. I forget myself and exceed my limit."

"I don't believe that."

"Believe what you want."

"Kaminari!" Denki flinched when Todoroki's voice raised. "You must know that you're going to do that to yourself when you fight."

"Of course, I do."

"Then why don't you hold back?"

Denki grit his teeth and glared at Todoroki. "I can't afford to hold back, stupid. Sorry I'm not you."

"I still don't understand." Denki saw how his expression twisted, how Todoroki was starting to get caught up in his frustration. Or maybe it was the other way around. "How can you go up in front of everyone like that, knowing that you'll put yourself in that state? Not only helpless and unresponsive, but mocked as well."

"It's better that they laugh. I wish you laughed."

"How? Why?" Todoroki was almost pleading at that point, and that reaching, grasping in his voice dug deep into Denki and broke him down.

"Because! If you laugh, you aren't scared. If you laugh, you aren't worried. If you're laughing, that means I can keep pushing myself. I won't be afraid of hurting you, or the others. If I let being afraid of that stop me from doing everything I can, then I'll never catch up. I'm not strong like you. I'm not smart.

"You'll probably be a top hero without even trying. Top ten at least, I'm calling it right now." He chuckled, surprising himself with his own laugh. Surprised to hear it was totally normal, when he felt so bitter inside. "If I let fear stop me from pushing my limits, I'll never even be a mediocre hero. If I can't step up and force myself to let out more than I feel like I can, then I may as well quit right now and go to a regular high school."

Todoroki took a while to form a response. "That's not true."

"Dude, be honest. If the entrance exam wasn't robots, I wouldn't be here in the first place."

This time, Todoroki was more insistent, and his answer came nearly immediately. "That is not true." He stood, running a hand through his hair. "Oh my god, you are so ridiculous." Denki flinched when Todoroki rounded on him. "I admit, your quirk was advantageous for the entrance exam. Maybe that did help you. Either way, accepting you into UA was the best decision that school has ever made."

Denki was too stunned, too slow in registering what Todoroki had even said, to say anything before he continued. "You, out of everyone, have grown above and beyond what was expected. I can't believe I'm hearing you worry about keeping up with the rest of us. So what if you started low? Look at how fast you've improved your grades! You almost beat me in Heroics! If anyone should be worried, it's the rest of us about how we'll keep up with you!"

"I'm only doing better because you're bringing me up to your level! Only because you're wasting your time on me!"

"You're doing well because you're putting the effort in! I'm not even a good tutor. I'm not good at explaining things, and I'm not comfortable with talking so much like that. You do all the work."

"Are you kidding me?" Denki scoffed and stood himself so he was level with Todoroki. "You're freaking perfect at everything! You're like, as strong as a pro, you have great grades, and yes, dude, you're a great tutor. You watched me, thought of how to help me, adapted ways to help me that _work_. I wouldn't be even close to where I am if I wasn't riding off your coattails."

"Stop making it out like you're taking advantage of me! I'm not carrying you, and you're not wasting my time! I do this because I like it, and because I respect you. And I'm not perfect. I can only dream of getting along with people like you do. You could be number one hero, don't you get that? Don't you understand why All Might is there, and not my dad?"

Denki hesitated, frowned. He wasn't sure where Todoroki was going, but he knew it was revealing something about Todoroki that he didn't think he was at a place to hear. They were friends, sure, but not like he and Ashido or Kirishima were. They didn't have chats about their feelings or their troubles. _Except that's exactly what this is, isn't it?_ He shook his head. "All Might is ridiculously powerful."

"That's not what's important." Todoroki insisted. "People love All Might. He's not just a hero. He's not a…" Todoroki struggled for a moment for the words. "He's not even just a celebrity. I realized that, after the sports festival. He's an icon. He's not just known, he's adored. He's trusted. My dad is… difficult to get along with."

Denki shook his head. "I don't get it. Midoriya is little All Might. Not me."

"No. You're right, Midoriya is like All Might. He has that… thing. Whatever it is that makes him just a little bit of an idiot once he gets it in his mind that he needs to help someone. That's probably why All Might likes him so much. But you're just that kind of person. You make people happy just by being around them. You make them feel like they can talk to you, like they can trust you. Even Midoriya doesn't have that."

"Mina and Kirishima both do that."

"And they're both brilliant people. But you're the one I know. You're the one that's shown such amazing growth." Todoroki seemed to try to calm himself down. "Sorry." He sat. "You're not stupid, Kaminari. You're not doing well because I'm your tutor. You're doing well because you sought out a way to do better."

"You offered. All I did was agree."

"I offered because I noticed. Couldn't you tell that I had no idea what I was doing? I saw you in class. I could tell that you had trouble with how the information is given to you. I knew that if only someone would give you the information in a way that was accessible to you, you'd skyrocket above all of us. And I was right! Actually improving your grades, that's all on you."

Denki sat down next to him, unsure how or if to respond. _That's what Todoroki thinks of me?_

Todoroki chuckled weakly. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you drain yourself like that, though. When you see an opening, you don't hesitate. You commit one-hundred percent, even when you're scared. It's just frustrating, because you don't realize how special that is."

Denki was sure his face was red, but he did his best to ignore it. "It's not that special. A lot of the time I do stupid stuff because of it. I only commit because I don't think things through."

Todoroki shook his head and sighed through the long pause. "It's crazy, how different we are."

"You think?"

"I don't think I'm strong enough to go through your life."

"Don't be stupid. You're like, the strongest guy I know."

"No. I would have given up a long time ago if I were in your situation. With a quirk that does that to you when overused…"

"Or used improperly."

"See? And learning difficulties on top of that? I don't understand how you have the strength to pursue a career as a hero. Things come so easily to me, and I feel stupid saying it like that, but it's true. This path was practically force-fed to me with how easy UA has been, and watching you makes me feel like I don't deserve it. I don't have the will to go as far as you do."

"Sure you do. You just haven't needed to. Don't worry about not spending effort that isn't needed." Denki worried his lip for a moment. "But that's also another thing. I don't really have some crazy motivation or anything. You and everyone else, you all have these really awesome reasons for being heroes. You guys want to help people, or to live up to expectations, and I just… thought it'd be cool. I thought it'd be fun."

"Fun?"

"Yeah. In case you haven't noticed, I really like fighting."

Todoroki smirked. "That does explain some things."

"Obviously after USJ and everything, I know better. Being a hero isn't something you do for fun, but… I don't know. I'm having fun. That's why I decided to go to UA. Not some noble or important reason. I often feel like I don't really even belong with you guys."

"You're telling me that you put in so much effort, put yourself through so much, and you don't even have any investment in being a hero? You do it because you just… _want_ to?"

Denki chuckled weakly. "I guess. That's not entirely true anymore. After being here with you guys, I want to be a hero. I want to help you guys when you're out kicking ass and taking names."

"Unbelievable." Todoroki put his face in his hands. "You have to be the bravest person I've ever met."

"No. I mean, I'm no coward, but I'm pretty sure we have a few classmates braver than me."

Todoroki didn't respond, he just hung his head in thought. After a few long, quiet, peaceful moments, he asked, "It really doesn't bother you? That people laugh at you when you're…"

"I told you, dude. It's better that way. If everyone freaked out over me every time it happened, then I probably wouldn't be brave enough to do it."

"I think we have different concepts of bravery."

Denki chuckled. "How?"

"To me, the thought that walking willingly into mockery requires less bravery than having multiple people knowledgeable enough and willing to take care of you is absurd."

"Haha, I guess. To me, the thought of putting my friends through that kind of worry, or making them feel half as afraid as I am when I'm like that, is way scarier."

"So it is scary for you."

"Who do you think I am? Of course it's scary. I can't control my own body. I can't even think properly. And even if I could, communication would still be impossible. It's not something that happens and you think 'oh, I'll be fine again in an hour'. It's just… that moment."

Denki hadn't even realized he started shaking until Todoroki's hand on his arm stopped it. "I'm sorry." Todoroki said.

"Don't be. There's nothing you need to be sorry for."

"I'm sorry for pushing you into this."

Denki grinned. "Well it's not like I wouldn't have preferred not to talk about it, but no harm done. It's not something you need to apologize for. I know you're just worried."

Todoroki smiled and shook his head. Under his breath, he said, "Unbelievable."

"But, uh," Denki took a shaky breath. He touched his warm cheeks. "Do you, like, get it now, or whatever? Are we good?"

"Truthfully, I don't think I'll ever 'get it'." Todoroki shook his head, his expression calm. "But yes, we're good."

Denki knew Todoroki probably wouldn't be comfortable with it. He felt bad about doing it without asking. But he was feeling emotional and he was a little overloaded on everything Todoroki had said to him, how much he had praised him, and he saw the opening so he took it. He leaned closer and wrapped his arms tight around Todoroki in a hug.

Since he had to lean to reach, Denki ended up with his face buried in Todoroki's shoulder, but that suited him just fine. He used Todoroki to hide his grin and mumbled into his shirt. "Good."

Todoroki shifted under him, and he was just about to let go, realizing what he did, when he felt arms surround him in return.


	5. Chapter 5

Denki figured his talk with Todoroki was ultimately a good thing. They had, together, breached some unspoken boundary between them. Crossed the bridge from a mostly professional "classmates and also sort of tutor-student" relationship to something more casual. Todoroki was still mostly quiet, so it wasn't quite the same as Denki's relationships with other close friends like Ashido, but it had the same undertones. When they broke that barrier, they agreed that they could rely on each other beyond the capacity of just allies. That they would help each other not just because they're heroes or because they need each other in a pinch, but because they wanted to see the other do well.

It also meant that Denki felt comfortable abusing his cell phone number privileges.

KD: hey hey todoroki whats up  
TS: Midterms are next week.  
KD: I KNOW im like totally stressin dude  
TS: That's not what I meant. You should be studying.  
KD: this is my stdy break  
KD: w8 r u studying rn?  
TS: There was an attempt.  
KD: shit dude im sorry im being distracting  
KD: ill let u get back 2 work  
TS: That would be appreciated.  
TS: But to be honest, I don't think either of us have much to worry about.  
KD: maybe u dont but i gotta do well!  
TS: You will, though. You know the material.  
KD: but taking these huge tests is super hard  
KD: even if i kno what im doin its just so LONG  
KD: ya kno  
TS: I understand. I'm afraid I can't think of anything that might help, though.  
KD: aint ur problem dude but thanks for thinkin of me 3  
KD: maybe if i just kno everything like the back of my hand  
KD: i wont even have to pay attention  
KD: can just blast through like mr mcsplode  
TS: Somehow, I feel like you will still need to pay enough attention to read the questions.  
KD: but if i answer enough questions fast enough i wont have time 2 get distracted  
KD: like if i can only do 30 min of total attention then i just gotta answer everythign in that time  
TS: That's the idea. I still feel I should warn you not to rush.  
KD: dont make stupid mistakes bc i didnt read properly ye  
TS: Essentially.  
KD: u right  
KD: dont worry dude ima make u proud  
TS: I wasn't worried. You already have.

Denki couldn't hold back a little squeak in surprise, or the yell that escaped his lips when he dropped his phone on his own face. Without even thinking twice, and despite his burning cheeks, he screenshotted the conversation and sent it to Ashido accompanied with just a bunch of exclamation points.

He wrapped up the conversation with Todoroki quickly, remembering that he was being a distraction from studying, and resolved to get back to his own notes. He couldn't afford to slack off, and god knew it was hard enough for him to study in the first place. But Todoroki's confidence in him filled him with renewed energy, and he was determined to put it to good use.

His phone buzzed when he sat down at his desk once more.

AM: ',:3  
KD: HE  
KD: SAID  
KD: HES  
KD: PROUD  
KD: OF  
KD: ME  
KD: !  
AM: I  
AM: K N O W  
AM: !  
KD: AAAAAAAAAAAA  
AM: ur so gay omfg  
KD: wtf what is this bi erasure  
KD: u kno im love u too  
AM: KAMINARI DENKI YOU SMOOTH BASTARD  
AM: 1 I love you too  
AM: 2 im sorry I erased ur identity :(  
AM: 3 dont think I didnt notice that u just said u love todoroki  
KD: 1 33333333  
KD: 2 don worry love i kno what u meant u kno i do the same thing  
KD: 3 shut up  
AM: *wagglin my eyebrows*  
KD: u kno i love literally everyone  
AM: specially tododoki  
KD: specially you  
AM: IM TRYING TO BE SERIOUS  
KD: i dont believe that for a moment  
AM: wow savage  
KD: but i am serious too  
AM: I mean obviously we are The Best Couple  
AM: but todoroki  
KD: what r u digging for  
KD: i literally do nothing with him that i dont do w kirishima  
AM: and I tease you about being in love w kirishima incessantly  
KD: fair  
KD: point  
AM: speaking of hows that going  
KD: have u seen him w his hero costume on  
KD: like u probs think im all about those abs and while  
KD: i admit  
KD: those abs  
KD: his little headgear mask thing  
KD: just  
KD: aaaaahhhhjhjfghhjjh  
KD: i think he thinks its intimidating or something  
KD: and that somehow makes it even cuter  
AM: and jirou?  
KD: i still have yet to learn to play guitar and  
KD: she continues to be more punk than me and i continue to be jealous  
AM: and mina?  
KD: she is just  
KD: so radiant  
KD: like when she walks into th room u just  
KD: cant look away?  
KD: so nice to me  
KD: so beautiful  
KD: could kick my ass and id be 10000% okay w it  
KD: and like have u seen her smile its like a breath of spring  
KD: i dont even have a man but she could def steal my man i wouldnt even be upset id understand  
AM: OKAY OKAY STOP  
KD: u sure i have more  
KD: like shes so fashionable too? wow  
KD: never known anyone who could pull of those prints like she can  
AM: KAMINARIIIIIIII  
KD: no redeemable qualities tbh kaminari is a joke  
AM: STOP IT DENKI  
KD: u started it  
AM: UR BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT AND I LOVE YOU  
KD: sounds fake  
AM: SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH YOURE PERFECT  
KD: 3 ;3  
AM: sero  
KD: precious boy  
AM: midoriya  
KD: those curls wtf  
KD: like its a mess it shouldnt be cute its so unfair  
KD: also FRECKLE BOY  
AM: uraraka  
KD: she has touched my heart and made it all floaty  
AM: bakugou  
KD: angry boy whom i love  
KD: such good skin like  
KD: also his hair looks fluffy and if he wouldnt immediately murder me id be runnin my hands through that mess every second  
AM: ojiro  
KD: TAIL  
KD: he lets me play w it and i just  
KD: 33333333333333333  
AM: yaomomo  
KD: shes so happy when shes teaching  
KD: im just  
KD: sobbing bc shes so pure  
AM: todoroki  
KD: objectively the hottest guy in class  
KD: and yes that was a sick pun  
KD: and also true  
KD: which is saying something considering bakugou exists  
KD: also hes so thoughtful?  
KD: so caring  
KD: and i might do well on the midterm which is all his fault  
KD: i love him  
AM: why can u say such beautiful things about everyone but urself  
AM: mineta  
KD: at first i thought he was just dumb but like  
KD: no hes just a bad person  
AM: okay I was a little worried for a second  
AM: at least theres a line  
KD: i love pranks and everything  
KD: but i really should have realized sooner that none of his pranks are about the prank  
AM: you think?!  
KD: sorry  
KD: like i obvs knew he was creepy but i just didnt expect him to drag that kind of mud into the sanctity of pranking  
KD: and i feel dirty knowing i was an accessory to that  
AM: we forgive u  
AM: just dont enable him  
KD: who do u think i am  
KD: the guy used pranks to objectify you girls and get a cheap thrill  
KD: he does not deserve to even be acknowledged  
AM: thats what were doin tho isnt it  
KD: so long as he doesnt kno its fine  
KD: silence is the most perfect expression of scorn  
AM: fuckin savage  
KD: thank u i wish i could claim that line  
KD: thanks george  
AM: george  
KD: bernard shaw thats not important  
KD: pranks are supposed to be good  
KD: theyre supposed to be uplifting  
AM: dam I forgot about this  
KD: pranks are supposed to bring people together  
KD: through shenanigans and comedy and ideally rube goldberg bs  
AM: hey how sur studying goin  
KD: pranks are one of lifes simple pleasures  
KD: it is going  
AM: sounds like ur doin better than me  
KD: i mean were both texting instead of studying  
AM: I do have my book open  
KD: same tbh  
KD: i still wanna rant about pranks  
AM: I kno how much pranks mean to you but we dont actually have all day  
KD: thats fair  
KD: anyway this whole conversation was basically just me gushing  
AM: I love when you gush  
KD: your turn  
AM: sure thing  
AM: kaminari denki is truly a gift unto the earth  
KD: mina no  
AM: he shines brighter than the sun  
AM: his sense of humor is on point like he just spreads so much laughter and cheer anywhere he goes  
AM: and hes? so? ?  
KD: thats not waht i mENAT  
AM: like every time he smiles i have to hold back tears because im just  
AM: so blessed like it cleanses my soul  
AM: he has such a cute face I can't stand it  
KD: M I N A  
AM: and I mean have you felt his hair?  
AM: its a freaking religious experience tbh  
AM: that look in his eyes when he gets excited about something  
AM: which is often because he thinks basically everything is great especially other people  
AM: that look in his eyes with so much love and appreciation and just ahhhhhhh  
KD: MINA PLS  
AM: and he blushes really easily  
AM: which is cute in itself but like have you seen his face when he blushes?  
AM: he's cuter than kirishima with his hero costume headgear  
KD: KIRISHIMA IS THE CUTEST BEING YOU TAKE THAT BACK  
AM: no can do I call it like I see it  
AM: but then if he gets really embarrassed he'll sometimes hide his face which is  
AM: e  
KD: STOP IT IM GONNA CRY  
AM: and I mean I haven't ever seen him change but I have seen him stretch really far  
AM: and I know hes got them abs  
AM: lets just take a moment to appreciate kaminaris muscles please  
AM: just a firm bicep squeeze is all im sayin  
AM: my skin is cleared my crops are watered my family is fed  
AM: and hes just so genuinely good  
KD: kjhsoajfhuiefhkjdhaksjldhljh  
AM: he tries his best and hes doing so good!  
AM: hes gonna ace this midterm because hes been trying hard and he made it!  
AM: hes so good to people  
AM: always sees the good in others even assholes like bakugou  
KD: hjdshflkjhglierluhpnjnisdufiwponieufbvposhopos  
AM: the actual best at compliments like wowee if you ever need some self confidence just say ur not that great in front of him  
AM: 1000000000000/10 best person  
KD: mimmsa  
AM: okay for the record I could keep going  
AM: but ill stop here bc im afraid youll short circuit your phone or something  
KD: im not gonna b able to study cause of u  
AM: please like u were studying anyway  
AM: and anyway you can always just ask todoroki for help ;)  
KD: hes studying  
KD: like we should b  
AM: I love that you already know what hes doing  
KD: I SENT U A SCREENSHOT FROM OUR CONVO  
KD: THATS HOW THIS STARTED  
KD: OFC I WAS TALKING TO HIM  
AM: oh right  
AM: still cute  
KD: minaaaaa  
AM: fine fine  
AM: just think about todoroki  
AM: do it for him  
AM: youll study fine  
KD: u study 2  
KD: u need to do better than aoyama at least remember what i promised  
KD: im not gonna let u slack off!  
AM: s  
KD: mina!  
AM: yes sir ill get right on it iida  
KD: i kno u said that teasingly but the jokes on u bc iida is genuine and pure and enthusiastic and he really cares about our well being  
KD: so if im being compared to him i kno im doin something right!  
AM: stop gushing neither of us will ever study if you keep doing that!  
KD: i call it like i see it  
AM: but okay since ur so eager lets study  
AM: im gonna call u and well study together got that  
KD: alright im so down for that! :D

Together, they managed to study for a good while despite their repeated and dramatic tangents from the actual material. Ashido asked a lot of questions, so many that Denki began to suspect she was just testing him, but, surprising himself, he had the answer to most of them. His blush basically never went away, because Ashido was so complimentary every time he answered correctly or guided her through a question, and in return he made sure to be just as complimentary back, which led to them devolving into several gushing sessions in the middle of their work.

He didn't get nearly as much done as he usually did with Todoroki, or even by himself, but what they did cover he understood better than ever, having been the teacher for most of it, and Ashido was much more confident with the material, so Denki considered it overall a good day.

Midterms were fast approaching, and Denki often found himself studying with Ashido in the weeks leading up to the exam. His meetings with Todoroki made him confident in what he knew, and relaying it to Ashido was both easier than learning for him, especially on his attention span, and also further solidified everything he was learning. He impressed Yaoyorozu by helping when he could during their study sessions and even found that a few of his classmates, especially Ashido and Kirishima, occasionally came to him first for questions they had about the material.

Not entirely confident in his own knowledge, he often stressed that they should also go to one of the better students to check, but more times than not he had done it correctly anyway, and he was pretty sure they stopped checking after a while. He was flattered, but also terrified because though he knew he was doing better, he got the lowest score on the last midterm and it seemed stupid to him for them to trust his academics that much. He was sure that he was giving them the wrong answers, or the wrong instructions, or that there was a much easier way to find the answer than the one he chose, but he just couldn't say no when someone wanted to study with him.

The weeks leading to the midterm were so full of studying, in fact, that any event that he considered "social" usually overlapped with a quick study session. As the tests came closer, he got more nervous, and his nerves made him jump straight to the books which caused more than one spontaneous review. Ashido frequently complained about how tired she was of his sudden bookishness and she dragged him out to the mall or to go skating or anything else to get his mind off the tests as often as she joined him in his reviews. He understood where she was coming from, but he couldn't convince himself that he was ready for the test and therefore just couldn't relax. It was boring, yes, and it got old fast, but every time he put his notes away he got an itching feeling that he was missing something and he'd fail the test and would prove that he was just as stupid as his rank suggested.

The entire preamble was a torturous time of being stuck between a rock and a hard place, the rock being fighting his own mind to get himself to focus, the excruciating boredom of trying to review notes and school work that he already knew, and the constant call of actual fun things to do just outside his review books, and the hard place being a paralyzing fear of all the work he'd been putting into it, all the work Todoroki and Yaoyorozu put into helping him, being for naught. The fear that no matter how hard he tried, he really was just stupid and would never amount to anything more than that. Of letting his tutors down and of letting his other classmates, especially the ones he had been helping, down.

Understandably, it was a stressful time, but Denki pushed through it with a smile and the backup of his friends. Todoroki's calm confidence in him and Ashido's insistence for him to take it easy every once in a while were probably all that kept him sane.

But soon enough, it was time for the exams, and Denki ultimately didn't feel too bad about them. Not after they were over and done with, anyway. He couldn't honestly say he breezed through them, but compared to the torture that they were before, he was pretty happy. Sitting through them was still difficult, but like Todoroki and he had predicted, in the spans of time that he was able to focus on the test itself, he went through it much more quickly, and in fact since in many cases he only needed to think for a moment or two about his answer, he found that his mind didn't even wander quite as much.

His eyes still betrayed him. When he looked up and caught sight of the clock or of something else in the room it was likely to send him down a train of thought unrelated to the test, but otherwise, he was rarely distracted by his own thoughts. He had tangential thoughts that occasionally spiraled, of course, but he didn't stagnate enough to allow those thoughts as often as he usually would have. And so, with that, Denki was relatively satisfied.

Tests over, there was nothing left for him to do. Worrying about it wouldn't change his grade, so instead he turned his mind to something else entirely, and he called in backup for it.

He grinned over the group that had gathered. Ashido, of course, and the rest of the crew that Yaoyorozu tutored, including the occasional member, Kirishima, but minus Yaoyorozu herself. Iida and Midoriya rounded out the group. Everyone looked to him expectantly, waiting for an explanation as to why he called them together.

"Let's throw a party." He said.

The crowd erupted. Ashido, Sero, and Kirishima were straight on board, enthusiastically shouting their agreement. Jirou and Ojiro shared an amused glance and shrugged. Iida seemed concerned, but Midoriya had a bright smile on his face. Everyone started mumbling or yelling about his idea.

Iida voiced his concern. "Isn't a party more appropriate for the end of term? And why is the rest of the class not here if that was your plan?"

"Good point!" Denki grinned. "It's not just a 'midterms are over' party. I mean, it is, that's why I asked you here, Class Pres, but really I want to do something nice for Yaomomo and Todoroki."

"Oh," Jirou said. "That's why it's just our study group and the class pres, huh?"

"Exactly! I wanted to brainstorm with you guys on something special for Yaomomo. Beyond just the party, I mean. She's been helping us all, so much, you know?"

"Yeah!" Sero exclaimed. "I want to show my appreciation, too! Let's get her something!"

"She can literally make anything she wants." Jirou pointed out.

"She doesn't though. Remember? The economy and everything."

Kirishima bounced in his seat a little. "Why don't we make her something then? A project that we all worked on!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Mina cheered. "Great idea Kirishima! Let's think up something she's going to love!"

Midoriya raised his hand a little and moved closer to Denki. "Um, I get why they're here, and Iida, but if that's why you chose this group, why am I here?"

Denki patted Midoriya on the shoulder. "Because you're closest to Todoroki!"

"What? I- no I'm not!"

"Well, maybe Yaomomo would work too, but I obviously can't have her here, can I? And I know I'm the only one Todoroki tutored, but I just wanted some help coming up with something. Are you alright with that? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, if you think I can help, then I want to try!"

"That's the spirit!"

Iida nodded approvingly. "In that case, I support this. Please, let me know however I can help!"

Ashido, Sero, Kirishima, and Denki all cheered at his approval. "Ooh," Ashido said, "what kind of party should it be?"

Ojiro chuckled a little nervously. "Well it is just the midterm, it doesn't need to be anything fancy. Just a little get-together."

Denki agreed. "Yeah, I was thinking that, too. Snacks and maybe some movies and basically just a good time for everyone to hang out together outside of class."

"Karaoke." Jirou stated. "No arguments. I can bring equipment for it."

"Heck yeah."

"Kaminari, you're singing with me."

"Heck yeah!"

Ashido jumped in the air. "Me, too! Me, too!"

Jirou arched an eyebrow. "With Kaminari, or me?"

"Both!"

"Where should we have it?" Ojiro asked. "I'm pretty sure Todoroki and Yaoyorozu are the only ones with houses big enough for a class party."

Denki grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I haven't figured that out yet. I want to thank them, so it feels weird to ask to use their places."

"Let's figure it out with the rest of the class!" Kirishima said. "All the party planning can be done with everyone else. While it's just us, we should focus on what we should make Yaoyorozu."

"Yeah!" Ashido agreed. "What should we make?"

"It's got to be something personalized." Jirou said.

Sero nodded. "Definitely. But I can't think of anything."

"A scrapbook!" Ashido exclaimed, bouncing on her toes. "It's not much but if we each make a page we can all write her a personal letter about how much we love her and then fill up the rest of the space with pictures and decorations!"

"Ooh, interesting." Kirishima grinned along with her. "And it wouldn't take forever to make."

Denki snickered when he noticed Iida breathe out in what seemed suspiciously close to a sigh of relief. _I don't blame him for thinking we'd do something totally outrageous. Though if he thinks a scrapbook that we get our hands on won't be the most ridiculous thing, he's not been around us long enough._

"We don't have much time, anyway." Jirou said. "If we want to make it a party for tests ending."

"True. Should we, like, vote?"

Sero snickered. "All in favor of a scrapbook?" Everyone shouted their approval, even Iida.

"All right!" Ashido said. "I can make the book, you guys start thinking about how you want to make your pages! You'll have like, two pages, you know?" She mimed opening a book and indicated the two face pages.

"Geez," Kirishima rubbed his neck. "Now I feel like I should do something for Bakugou."

Ashido grabbed his arm in her excitement. "You should!"

"I'm pretty sure anything I try to give him will end up exploded, though."

"That's not true!"

Denki chuckled. "I'm with Mina, man. He likes you; he wouldn't blow up a gift from you."

The sentiment put a smile on Kirishima's face. "You think?"

"I'm sure, dude!"

"Aha, alright then, I'll try to think of something! What about you; any ideas for Todoroki?"

Denki groaned. "No. Midoriya, anything come to mind?"

"Honestly, Kaminari, I think your improved grade is more than enough for him. Anything you do would just be extra."

"Yeah, well, I'm extra."

"Oh, now that I think about it…" Kirishima came closer to them. "You and Bakugou have known each other forever, right Midoriya? Do you have any ideas?"

Midoriya rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Honestly, I think it's better if you don't get ideas from me, Kirishima. If it's you, he'll probably like it, but if he hears I helped…"

Kirishima nodded understandingly. "Ah, right. That makes sense." He sighed. "Aw, well. I'll figure out something."

"I don't think any of them are expecting anything, though, so neither of you need to do anything big."

"You're right…" Kirishima frowned. "I'm going to have to do some research, but I think I might have something."

Denki grinned. "Really? What is it?"

"Oh, just something simple. I figure Bakugou would like a competition so I might take him to a restaurant with a food challenge or something. I'll have to do it before the party…"

"Ah, geez, that's actually kind of thoughtful." Denki frowned. "I still don't have a clue. Any idea what Todoroki even likes?"

"You're the one who's been in his room, dude."

Denki thought back to Todoroki's room. _He doesn't even have anything to indicate hobbies. Maybe he's said something? But no, we mostly talk about school, or it's just me going on and on._ Both of the other boys patted his back, Kirishima much more forcefully. "Don't worry," Midoriya said, "you'll think of something!"

And he was right. Denki looked at Midoriya, thought about his conversations with Todoroki, remembered one hint of something personal, a clue about Todoroki's home life, and found a devious smile to stretch across his lips. A chuckle bordering on sinister boiled in his throat. Midoriya backed off, mostly concerned, but Kirishima seemed equally amused. "Idea, bro?"

"It's… something. I don't know if he'll appreciate it, but… _I_ think it's funny."

"Ooh, well, spit it out."

"Sorry bro, it's a little personal. Todoroki only sort of shared it with me, so I don't want to tell anyone about it if he doesn't want me to."

"I get it, no worries. Good luck, though."

"Thanks. There's a very high possibility that I will need it."

"Right then, let's all get to work. We still need to get the rest of the class and figure out the actual party!"

Iida appeared next to Denki, startling him a little. "As it happens, I was considering the best course of action for that. I think it would be best if we got permission from the school to gather here."

"At school? What would be the curfew if we did that?" Denki groaned.

"What's the point of a party if we can't sleep over?" Ashido yelled, moving from the other conversation in the room to theirs. "It's got to be a slumber party!"

Iida frowned, deep in thought. Denki shrugged. "I mean, I'd be down for school but I agree with Mina. If we even got permission, we'd end up locked in unless you guys want the party in like the middle of the day."

"We'd have to get everyone to agree to the lock in." Ashido said. "But that sounds like fun!" The others in the room all seemed to agree, which made Denki feel better about the idea.

Kirishima scoffed good-naturedly. "Bakugou barely wants to spend time with us anyway; no chance he's locking himself in the school with us."

"It's all a moot point, anyway," Midoriya said, "so long as we don't have permission from the principal and teachers."

"Well, let's ask!" Denki said. "At the very least, we can ask. If we get permission, we can offer the idea to the class, and if someone has a better idea we can just tell the teachers that we decided to do it somewhere else."

"Good idea, Kaminari!" Iida exclaimed. "As class president, I will take the request to the teachers."

"I'll go with you! The party was my idea, anyway."

"Me, too!" Midoriya grinned. "If you don't mind. I want to help."

Ashido nodded approvingly. "All right, that settles it! You three go find a teacher, we'll get started on the scrapbook!"

"Yeah, good luck guys!"

The group adjourned their meeting, sending Midoriya, Iida, and Denki into the school while everyone else made their ways out.

The first teacher they came across was Midnight, and luckily for them she seemed amused by their plan and took them to the principal. Principal Nedzu, on the other hand, while not dismissive of their idea, sat them down for tea and possibly the longest lecture Denki had ever been incapable of paying attention to. _At least there's tea._ He thought, taking a sip. He caught the gist of the lecture of course, something about giving particular classes special treatment and the benefits of bringing a class together for an event like this. To Denki, it sounded almost like the principal was weighing the pros and cons in lesson format rather than actually trying to teach them anything. But Iida and Midoriya were nodding along eagerly, so he figured maybe that was just him.

"But that's enough of me talking." Those words from the principal were enough to bring Denki back to the present. "We have to lock the school up at night, but if you all are okay with being locked in, I'll allow it. There's no place safer for you to gather, after all. Why don't you all use the ballroom?"

"Wait, we have a ballroom?!" Denki exclaimed.

"We walk past it every day, Kaminari. It's in the building across from the one our classroom is in." Midoriya smiled. "It's between us and the cafeteria."

"That's what that building is?"

The principal nodded patiently. "It holds the ballroom, theatre, a few gyms… it's mostly used for extracurricular activities."

"Thank you, Mr. Principal." Iida said. "We wanted to make sure we had a location before bringing the idea to the rest of our classmates, so I'm afraid we'll have to get back to you on when we are available to have the party."

"Of course, of course. I'll let Aizawa know the situation. Just tell him when you want to do it and he'll let me know."

Denki jumped out of his seat. "Yeah, thanks a lot, principal! I got to go let the others know."

The principal chuckled. "Well then go on, boys."

Denki didn't need to be told twice. He had a lot of work ahead of him, from planning the party to making his pages for Yaoyorozu's scrapbook to getting the perfect gift for Todoroki. Most likely, he wouldn't have much time to do it all, either, so he wanted to get a head start as soon as possible.

Once he had said his goodbyes to Iida and Midoriya, he went home and immediately started drafting letters for Yaoyorozu and Todoroki. Like Ashido said, a letter talking all about how much he loved them and how much they helped him. Since he had two, he spent more time than he otherwise would have, and even once the sun had gone down and he knew he should go to sleep, he wasn't totally satisfied.

The next few days were a flurry of activity for the same reason. He was constantly going over how to say what he wanted as best as he could, and he wrote and rewrote both of his letters. He had gone to the mall and bought his gift for Todoroki, snickering all the while, on one of his trips for snacks and drinks for the lock in, so he had that covered, but it did take quite a bit of time for him to dig through all his pictures to find ones that he wanted to use for the scrapbook.

And when it was his turn with the book, just after Ashido, he turned past the sparkly pink page to the blank one behind it and creating everything took the rest of that day, which sunk one more afternoon down the drain. They had planned for each of Yaoyorozu's students to have a day with the book, which put their party date at about a week after exams, but it worked out fine and once the other classmates got hyped for it, things came together so smoothly, that a few of them couldn't even figure out why they were waiting so long.

It took some work, but all their classmates ended up agreeing, even Bakugou. Denki suspected that he might have only agreed to take advantage of the school training equipment on the weekend, but he was still happy because it meant that no one would be excluded.

The only things that interrupted the planning was school itself, including Denki's meeting with Todoroki on Wednesday and the posting of the test results.

He approached the board, sure his heart was going to fall out of his chest. Finding their class, his eyes fell to the bottom of the page. _Aoyama Yuga._ _Wait, really?!_ "Kaminari!" He turned to see Sero. "Look! You did great!"

He moved up the list, knowing with every name he passed, he'd be the next one, but somehow, his score was all the up at ninth place. He couldn't even force out words louder than a whisper. "What the fuck."

"Fifteen!" Ashido cheered. "Heck yeah! Oh man, look, Denki! Look! Nine!"

"What the fuck?" He repeated, just as quietly. Of course he thought he'd do better than last place, but he never in his wildest dreams imagined he'd pass straight up into the leading half of the class.

A hand on his head. "Woah!" Kirishima gaped at him. "Look at that! Todoroki must be a really amazing teacher, huh?"

"No." Todoroki's voice behind him paralyzed him even worse than his grade did. "That's thanks to his effort, not mine. Kaminari." Denki turned to face him. Todoroki smiled, almost a smirk, but definitely a broader expression than usual. "Good job."

Ashido tackled him in a hug. "Ahh! I'm so proud of you!"

"As am I." Yaoyorozu said, drawing Denki's attention to her. "You really gave it your all! It's so inspiring."

Denki knew his face was red, but it was about at that point that he just couldn't take it anymore. He buried his face in his hands and his there until his classmates were either satisfied with their praising or decided to pity him and leave him be.


	6. Chapter 6

Considering the whole "locked into the school" concept and that it was only midterms, the class was pretty enthusiastic about the party. Denki, once he was finished putting together his gifts for Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, essentially just moved from classmate to classmate to troubleshoot.

He helped Jirou pack up karaoke equipment to be transported to the school, he helped Ashido pick her outfit, assisted Asui and Uraraka with cooking, assisted Satou with baking, basically, he was wherever he was needed. He also, once it was arranged that they'd have sleeping bags and camp out in the ballroom, pulled aside Sero and Bakugou and scoped out the ballroom in case they needed to arrange an emergency eviction. He knew the girls could handle themselves, but like hell did he trust Mineta to be in the same room while everyone was sleeping. Denki planned on giving him a chance, but if any of them caught any suspicious activity, they'd throw him to the wolves. And by wolves, he meant Bakugou. Denki was pretty sure the principal would understand. He didn't like the idea, but since they were locked in together, they couldn't just send Mineta home, so they had to figure out how to handle him, if necessary. He trusted that Bakugou wouldn't go as far as murder. Yet.

It didn't take any convincing, in fact Bakugou was the one who said that he'd take care of Mineta personally if anything happened. Denki was mostly just planning to lock him out of the ballroom, but he wasn't about to get in Bakugou's warpath.

But with plans, both secret and not, complete, preparations made, and the time finally reached, class 1-A arrived one by one to the UA ballroom. The ballroom, which had somehow been completely transformed.

Denki suspected the principal's hand in it, but he wasn't about to complain. One side of the room had a huge screen and a suspended projector for movies, as well as a very comfortable looking lounging area with sofas and chairs and pillows and blankets galore. Padded mats were rolled out across most of the floor, except near the tables and a small area where Jirou's equipment was set up as a DJ booth and karaoke machine. Spotlights from somewhere high up were aimed there, presumably for their performances, and Denki found the switch that controlled them located conveniently close by. Similarly, he enjoyed that they had full control of the lights. Not even just on or off, but dimming, and beyond that, dimming certain areas of the ballroom.

He had planned on the karaoke and the tables of snacks. He had planned on the projector, but it was the lounging area that had him bouncing, and the spotlights were a nice touch that only UA was ridiculous enough to provide. Still, despite the areas set up, including a dancing area near Jirou's equipment, there was still a huge amount of empty space in the massive ballroom. Denki figured that was for the best. Knowing his classmates, they'd use it somehow. _Some of them basically exist to be as big as possible. Maybe we can get some sort of work out place there. I don't know when everyone goes through their routine, but first thing in the morning isn't ridiculous._

Jirou was there early, to set up her gear how she liked it, and a few others came to put out snacks and by the time most of the class was there, everything was basically set up.

The party wasn't any intense affair. Mostly everyone hung out in the lounge area and chatted while snacking down. Only once everyone was present did Ashido and Jirou announce that it was time to start karaoke, and that was when everything started getting wild.

Everyone had a chance at the spotlight solo, and most took it. Once everyone had a turn, the more competitive of them began calling each other out to either have a sing-off or a duet or both. Bakugou slayed, Jirou slayed harder, much to his chagrin. Ashido sang either beautifully or beautifully off-key depending on the song and her mood and whether Denki was with her. Midoriya got nervous, so Denki and Uraraka jumped in the spotlight with him and played backup and not long after, nearly the whole class was dancing and singing right along with them. Todoroki had an expectedly nice voice and an unexpectedly unconfident look when he sung. Denki also joined him, but that one only turned into a duet.

Denki, being Denki, was basically sobbing internally the entire time. He knew that his cheeks were red and he knew that Ashido, if not several of the others, would be taking pictures, but as he shared the microphone with Todoroki he found he didn't really care. His chest was going to explode every time they leaned in closer to each other or Todoroki smirked at him or one of them sang a particularly interesting line, cocky or suggestive or playful (it didn't matter, if he were honest), but it was worth it for the experience. _God, it's so unfair how perfect he is._

The best thing about it, though, was that they could belt out lyrics and scream and cheer as loud as they wanted, because there weren't any neighbors to complain about the noise. That was especially good because Denki really couldn't imagine the group being anything resembling quiet under the circumstances.

Once everyone was out of breath and giggling like mad, they decided to chill out with a movie. They only got about halfway through before a pained yell brought everyone's attention behind the central couch. _Fucking hell._ Denki groaned, standing to get a view. There was Mineta, bound tight by Sero's tape, one eye closed tight in pain while Jirou vaulted over the couch to put herself between him and Yaoyorozu. _She's gotten you in the eye like five times now. You'd think you'd learn._ He shook his head and looked to Sero. Sero just shook his head and shrugged. "Out of my hands, bro." He said, gesturing to Jirou's furious expression, as well as Yaoyorozu's mildly scandalized one.

"Okay," Denki said, hoping he was keeping his voice calm and level, "what happened this time?"

Bakugou, who was leaning back in the corner of one of the smaller side couches, his arm stretched out across the back and behind where Kirishima sat, looked over with disinterest. He raised his arm to avoid hitting Kirishima and stood looking, surprisingly, not even angry, just mildly annoyed if that much. That the disturbance got personal attention from Bakugou was enough to freeze everyone else in their places, and he just calmly put a hand on Jirou's shoulder. "Don't worry." He looked to Yaoyorozu. "I'll handle it."

He turned, picked up Mineta by the tape binding him, slung him over his shoulder like a bag, and walked out the ballroom door.

The door clicked closed behind them, the image of Mineta's wild eyes and panicked flailing the last thing any of them saw. "Uh…" Kirishima furrowed his brow. "Should we be worried?"

"For Mineta?" Jirou scoffed.

Kirishima made an uncommitted groan and shrugged. "Yeah, you're right." He pursed his lips. "I hope Bakugou comes back, though."

Ashido sidled up next to him, taking opposite the side Bakugou was. "Yeah, you do." She wiggled her eyebrows, grinning suggestively.

Kirishima blushed a little, but laughed and pushed Ashido away. "Why does everything have to be that way with you?"

"Because I'm besties with Denki, and he's in love with everyone."

"Wow." Denki said, covering his heart dramatically. "Why you got to call me out like this?"

"What?" Sero faked a gasp. "Kaminari, I thought I was your bestie."

"Well, one, Mina does use my given name."

"Is that permission?"

"Yes. But also, we're besties too! I have enough love for you all." He went and hugged Sero as tightly as he could. "Come here, man."

Kirishima giggled. "Hey, Mina, I thought we were besties, too."

"Eh, Denki and I ain't exclusive." She hugged Kisishima, less tightly but with much more force than Denki did Sero. She sent them both tipping over into Bakugou's empty seat as she cuddled into him. "And yeah, we're besties. That's how I know you were asking for a hug."

"Aw, my bestie knows me so well."

"C'mon Sero," Denki said. "Cuddle pile."

Sero cheered along with Denki and together they both leaped onto the two on the couch. There was a lot of screaming on all sides of both pain and laughter, as they tried to situate themselves, and they ended up just sitting in a row, pressed against each other, and leaning like toppled dominoes on Kirishima, who was still on his back.

A few of the others commented on their arrangement, but after that they all went back to watching the movie. Denki felt all warm inside and out with Sero and Ashido on either side of him. He could hardly even focus on the movie anymore, instead he just grinned and appreciated his friends.

And then the door opened once more, a couple minutes before the movie ended, and Bakugou walked almost serenely back in, looking no different than he left except for a slight ruffle to his clothes and a few odd purple spheres stuck to him at seemingly random places. He walked up to the four of them, looked down at them with an arched brow, shook his head, and said, "Pinky, get this fucking nasty shit off me."

Ashido beamed at him, and once everyone had sat up, releasing her to stand, she looked him over and giggled. "Sure thing. Let's get out of Kirishima's way." They moved together behind the lounging area and Ashido worked some weak acid over Mineta's quirk, slowly but surely removing them one by one with only minor damage to Bakugou's clothes. He didn't seem to mind that much. _I guess it was just worth it. He does seem strangely satisfied._

As the credits rolled on the movie, Kirishima hit Denki's shoulder and leaned in close. "Hey, when are we giving Yaoyorozu the thing?" He whispered.

"When Mina's done." He replied, looking over to Jirou and Ojiro and giving them the nod so they'd understand. Jirou got up to retrieve the scrapbook, using a restroom break as an excuse.

When she returned, Mina was just finishing with the last ball on Bakugou, so Denki gave her the go-ahead. Jirou was standing behind Yaoyorozu, and a few of the others had noticed her and the colorful package in her hands and were looking with interest, but Jirou kept her eyes on Ashido. Once Ashido patted Bakugou on the back and returned to the group, Jirou cleared her throat loudly to get everyone's attention.

Not that she needed to, everyone was already focused on her, looking nervous and a little uncomfortable and carrying a brightly colored box. Yaoyorozu looked up with polite confusion, which Denki thought was adorable. _I can't wait until she sees it._ "Yaoyorozu," Jirou said, "we – Ojiro, Kaminari, Ashido, Sero, Kirishima, and I, that is, wanted to thank you for tutoring us all this time, so we made you a little something to show our appreciation."

Yaoyorozu seemed the most surprised out of anyone. Everyone else for the most part just smiled (or in Bakugou's case, rolled his eyes, though Kirishima mentioned he had taken Bakugou out earlier to thank him so Denki assumed that Bakugou knew about the gift) and nodded along. Yaoyorozu gasped as she accepted the gift. "Everyone… you really didn't need to. I enjoyed helping you all."

Denki knew he was blushing, but he saw that most of the group was blushing too, so he didn't mind. Ashido sent him a sideways glance and proceeded to sell him out. "Well, it was Denki's idea."

"Really?" Yaoyorozu asked, starry-eyed. "Thank you so much! All of you!"

"Don't thank us before opening it!" Ashido said, grinning.

So she did, and as she lifted the book out of the box, Denki was sure she was fighting back tears. She placed it in her lap, Jirou taking the box itself, and used one hand to cover her mouth as her other opened the scrapbook proper.

The first page had a class picture, all of 1-A. The next spread was Ashido's and had, like all of the spreads, one side that was cluttered with pictures of her and Yaoyorozu together, and the other side filled mostly with her personal handwritten letter describing her appreciation. Ashido's spread was filled with glitter and ribbons with colorful print and cute stickers. Everyone who wasn't in on it gathered around to look at it over Yaoyorozu's shoulders, even Bakugou, though he stayed on the outskirts and made sure to look uninterested.

By the time Yaoyorozu turned the page to reveal Denki's electric yellow theme and bold, black accent lines, she was already crying so hard that he was pretty sure she wouldn't actually be able to read the rest of the letters. She seemed to realize that, too, so instead she just turned slowly through all six spreads, looking at the pictures and decorations and saving the letters for later when the whole class wasn't looking with her. She let out a particularly noticeable sob, or laugh, or squeal, when she pointed out the note everyone had agreed to include in their spreads that showed their scores from their first midterm, and their new scores, each and every one of them higher than they were before. On the final single page, before the closing cover, was a single picture of the whole study group together, including Yaoyorozu.

She stood up slowly, shakily, clutching the scrapbook to her chest. "You guys…" She seemed incapable of words, so Denki just smiled and held out his arms, gesturing with his fingers for them to come together. Yaoyorozu carefully set the scrapbook down in her seat and walked into the group hug waiting for her. There were so many tears, so many "thank you"s, so many "no, thank _you_ "s, that Denki kind of lost track of it all in the middle of their little huddle. He just held everyone he could get his arms around as close as he could for as long as he could.

"You're the best, Yaomomo." He said, though his mixed into everyone else's sentiments. He couldn't help but admire how well it went. Since it was basically the entire point of the night in the first place, he felt accomplished, seeing Yaoyorozu's giddy smile, seeing how touched she was by their present, seeing how everyone else was in such a good mood because of it.

Even Todoroki was only smiles and kind words, though Denki had yet to extend the appreciation to him. That, of everything, actually did bring Denki's mood down, though only slightly. It made him happy, and he had to admire how cute and how good Todoroki was that he wasn't even jealous and didn't even expect anything himself, despite Ashido having mentioned that the present was Denki's idea. But he also was just a little concerned, because in his mind, Todoroki really should have expected something. That it seemed like it didn't even occur to Todoroki that Denki had something special for him made him wonder what Todoroki was thinking.

When the group hug broke and Yaoyorozu went back to admiring the scrapbook along with the rest of the class, pointing to pictures or having them pointed out and laughing and reminiscing, Denki caught Todoroki's attention and gestured silently for him to follow him.

He led Todoroki to the bags, situated a fair distance away from where everyone was busy. He looked back, and Ashido was the only one who noticed their absence. She gave him a thumbs up and turned back to Yaoyorozu.

Denki shook his head and knelt to dig through his bag. "It's nothing special, but I wanted to show my appreciation to you, too, Todoroki." He said, finding the little box and the letter and holding them out.

He grinned more out of nerves than eagerness when he met Todoroki's mismatched gaze. He was pretty sure he was shaking, and tried to take a deep breath to steady himself as he held out the gift. "I'm sorry if you, like, don't like it or anything. I wasn't sure what to get."

Todoroki just gave him an odd look and opened the folded letter. To Denki's absolute relief, a smile appeared on Todoroki's face. And as his eyes dragged lower and lower on the paper, the smile stretched wider and wider. Denki fiddled with the hem of his shirt. Todoroki reached the end of the letter. His smile was replaced with a surprised, slack jaw.

Todoroki closed his mouth and swallowed, folding the letter neatly once more and opening the box. He shook ever so slightly, the smile – grin – returned. He covered his mouth for a second, mirth in his eyes, and reached in to pull out the little plush All Might key chain.

Then he burst out laughing.

Denki wasn't sure if it was a good laugh or a bad laugh, whether Todoroki was laughing for the same reason Denki thought it'd be funny, or if he was laughing because it was such a ridiculously stupid gift, but in the moment, but Denki didn't really care. All he cared about was the sound escaping Todoroki's lips.

He was full on, doubled-over, from the gut roaring with laughter and every time he forced his eyes open to look at the key chain he just dissolved into another fit. It was lilting, beautiful even in its ragged, uneven state. The ear-to-ear grin on Todoroki's face had to have been one of the sweetest sights of Denki's life; he'd never even seen a smile with teeth that wasn't sinister from Todoroki before, so this was the ultimate gift he could ever have received.

Naturally, he attracted the attention of the others, too, and Denki, through his own laughter, saw them all watching curiously.

"I…" Todoroki wheezed, and coughed as he tried to restrain himself. "I can't… believe… oh my god…"

"Yeah?" Denki stretched out his word, teasing, playful.

"You're so fucking ridiculous." Todoroki tackled him, throwing his arms over Denki's shoulders, and kept laughing into his shoulder. Denki had to take a step back to stay balanced. "All Might?" He managed, his toothy smile remaining a permanent fixture on his face. "Really? Oh my god, my dad would hate this."

"I'm… sorry?"

"No, no, I fucking love it. Thank you."

Denki cackled and wrapped his arms firmly around Todoroki's waist, pulling him even closer. He cradled Todoroki in his arms like that until both of them calmed down, though with the rate his heart was beating, Denki was pretty much objectively anything but calm. With Todoroki flush up against him, he half-wondered how Todoroki didn't feel the pounding of his heart, or if he did. He figured that the giggles that racked through both of them did a good enough job of disguising it.

His laughter went through an emotional rollercoaster of its own in those precious moments. It was relieved, amused at his joke and that Todoroki appreciated it. Then it was delirious, unstable and sure that the moment was fake, something dreamed up in his head as he realized what position they were in and that the entire class was literally just a few strides away, watching them. Then it was happy, because it was real and Todoroki still wasn't pulling away and _oh my god he's still right here, I am so blessed._ _He's so cute and oh my god he feels so small like this? His laughter is the most beautiful thing in the world, what the fuck, I'm going to make sure he laughs literally every day because he makes the sun shine and we all need it to live._

A quiet squeal from a best friend who could no longer contain herself coincided with the end of the best moment of Denki's life. He didn't blame her, he knew that was the moment Todoroki was going to back off anyway. He felt the shift of muscles in his arms before he heard Ashido's squeal, but it was still a disappointment. "How did you know I'd like this?" Todoroki asked quietly, not loud enough for the others to hear. He didn't back off all the way, just enough that they were face to face. Denki counted his lucky stars.

"When you were yelling at me about my quirk." He murmured. "You talked about All Might being super personable and mentioned your dad wasn't, so I thought you might be a fan of All Might. Noticed you didn't have any superhero merch in your room; thought that the number two hero wouldn't appreciate you having All Might merch."

"So you decided to get me some?"

"I remembered your whole 'I'm going to win the sports festival without my left side' thing and thought it might have to do with your dad. Guessed you'd appreciate a little jab at him." Denki chuckled. "I knew it was a risk, but that was definitely worth it."

To Denki's surprise and utmost delight, Todoroki's cheeks grew a paint dusting of pink in response. To his hidden dismay, Todoroki also took a step back, separating himself fully from Denki. "Well, uh, thank you. Really. This is… hilarious and actually pretty thoughtful, and your letter is really sweet."

Denki coughed awkwardly. "Right. I just wanted to show my appreciation, you know? You've helped me so much, after all!"

Todoroki chuckled affectionately and turned away to put the gift and letter in his own bag. Denki used the opportunity to turn to Ashido and mime his internal state, mouthing, "what the fuck, oh my god" and bringing his hands to his head. He snapped back to his almost composed face a moment later, before Todoroki could see him.

When Todoroki did stand up again, the two made their way back to the main group. Denki found it difficult to look directly at Todoroki, and when he made it to the couch, he shamelessly buried his head in Ashido's empathetic embrace. "It's okay." She said under her breath, only for him to hear. "I understand."

"I want those fucking photos."

"Dude, like there was any chance I wasn't going to send them to you."

"I'm going to combust."

"You're fine. Go for the kiss next time."

"Mina!"

She snickered. "Just saying."

"You're not helping." Denki whined.

"You made him laugh!"

"I know. He's so beautiful, oh my god."

Denki felt a tap on his back and lifted from Ashido enough to see Sero looking down at him. "I don't know what you two are saying here, but honestly dude, same." He whispered. "I can't believe Todoroki laughed like that. It's so surreal."

"And then he hugged Denki." Ashido said, forcing Denki to hide again. He made a strange sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a cry but ultimately sounded more like a whimper.

"It's okay, dude." Sero patted his back. "I don't think any of us would have been able to handle it either."

"I'm dying."

"Don't look now, but he's looking at you."

"Oh my fucking god."

"He looks kind of concerned?"

"I'm going to immolate."

Ashido hit him lightly. "Not hugging me, you aren't."

Denki risked looking up and across the lounge area to where Todoroki was sitting. Todoroki did indeed look concerned, and when he noticed Denki look at him, he tilted his head and raised his hands to silently ask, "are you okay?"

Denki just nodded as well as he could and collapsed back into Ashido. "Fuck me."

"Ask Todoroki."

"Mina!" Denki actually jumped up and exclaimed louder than he meant to, attracting everyone's attention.

She grinned sheepishly, but showed no hint of remorse. "Haha, sorry."

"Mina, no." He lowered his voice once more. Someone had, at some point, started another movie, and Bakugou was stretching on the other side of the ballroom, glaring dangerously at him. _Are we_ that _loud?_ Ojiro was also with him. It looked to Denki like they were planning some sparring. _No quirks, Blasty. I'm sure they know that, though._

"I had to."

"No you didn't. And now I'm going to cuddle Sero instead."

"What? Rude! I'm your cuddle buddy!"

"Not anymore. You're mean to me."

Sero held his arms out for Denki. "I've got you, dude."

"See? He appreciates me." Denki wrapped his arms around Sero, cuddling into him like he was with Ashido earlier.

"Hey, no, don't leave me out! I'm sorry!" He felt Ashido hug him from behind, laying on his back. "I love you."

Denki grinned and wriggled so that he could turn over, pulling Ashido close to him and backing up into Sero. "Aw, I can't stay mad at your face."

"Because you love me."

"Yeah I do."

The three of them stayed like that for most of the second movie, the distraction having been enough to allow Denki to recover just a little from what happened with Todoroki, and the distraction of the movie being perfect for bringing his mind off it completely.

The rest of the party was a calm affair, or not, depending on what group you joined. People group-swapped, and they chatted quietly. Others framed the little ring on the other side of the ballroom, shouting at whoever happened to be sparring at the time (all quirkless, if possible. Even Bakugou was careful not to go too far since Recovery Girl wasn't there and they wouldn't be able to do anything about injuries until the morning.) Jirou set music playing, nothing exciting, just soft background music in the absence of a movie, and dimmed the lights on the lounge side of the room. Iida mentioned something about the time. Denki almost never let go of Ashido or Sero, just because he didn't have to and didn't feel like it. A few people commented on Todoroki's laughing, but mostly to him and not Denki.

It took a while, for it to happen or for him to notice Denki wasn't entirely sure, but it was a rarer occasion to see any of them not pressed up against a classmate. Even if they weren't strictly cuddling like Denki was, they were either leaning on each other or, for the ones more awake, were sitting properly, but with their thighs and arms and shoulders brushing.

As it was getting late, the sparring ring was brought to a close and at least a couple people were dozing or asleep. Everyone talked in hushed voices.

Jirou came up to their group, eyeing Kirishima, who was leaning on Bakugou's shoulder. "Hey, just curious." She whispered so as not to bother Kirishima. "Bakugou, what happened to Mineta?"

Bakugou blinked at her. "Who?"

"The pervert."

"Oh, that. What about it?"

"He can't get back in here while we sleep, can he? Where'd you leave him?"

Bakugou snorted. "Nowhere it'll die too quickly. It ain't fucking coming back."

Jirou raised an inquisitive eyebrow, but shrugged. "Good enough for me. Thanks, Bakugou."

He grunted, going back to his phone and whatever he was actually doing on it.

Ashido got up, patting Denki on the head in the meanwhile, and went to join Jirou and the small girl group that formed around Yaoyorozu. Since Sero was already talking to other classmates, that left Denki all alone on his side of the couch. He didn't dare slide closer to Bakugou and Kirishima, so he just draped himself over the arm of the couch and sighed quietly. _I should get up. Find someone to talk to. But ugh, too tired._

A weight shifted the cushion under him, prompting him to sit properly and see who it was. Todoroki looked at him with a vaguely amused smile. "Thought you looked lonely." He said.

"Not anymore."

Todoroki scooted closer, so that they could keep their conversation as quiet as possible. Denki leaned in to accommodate, so that they were barely any further than Kirishima and Bakugou were from each other. "The party was your idea, wasn't it?"

"Oh, definitely."

"As well as the scrapbook and letters."

Denki blushed. "Not exactly. It was my idea to give you guys something. Mina thought up the scrapbook."

"I see. Was this for us, too?" Todoroki gestured around them.

Denki chuckled sheepishly. "Well… yeah, sort of. You two and Bakugou."

"Bakugou?"

"He tutors Kirishima, remember?"

"Ah, right. I didn't see him get anything."

"Eh, Kirishima did it a few days ago. Figured Blasty wouldn't appreciate being called out in front of everyone."

"But you thought I would?"

"Dude, I wanted something to escape to if you didn't like it. And anyway, Yaoyorozu got to hear you laugh and that's a gift in itself."

Todoroki actually blushed at that, which only made Denki's face burn even more. "You're ridiculous."

"Mhmm, you've mentioned."

They sat quietly for a while, watching the others. "Hey…" Todoroki murmured. "How are you so… comfortable like that?" Denki furrowed his brow, following Todoroki's gaze to where Sero was laughing along with Ojiro. "With Sero and Ashido. And Kirishima."

"What do you mean? We're friends."

"I mean earlier." Todoroki's voice took on a wistful edge. "You all were here just hugging and on top of each other."

Denki laughed. "What, cuddling? I don't know, dude. I like it, they like it, so we do it." Todoroki hummed gently, the corners of his lips twitching down as he shifted his gaze to Ashido. Denki frowned, watching him closely. Before he could think too hard about any words that escaped him, he asked, "do you want to cuddle?"

Todoroki buried his red face in his hands, which Denki assumed was a "yes", at least at heart. "I can't believe you can just ask that." Denki read his lips more than he heard the words.

"Is that a no?"

"In front of the whole class?"

"Hey, they heard you really laugh. It's a night of firsts." A long pause. Denki chuckled nervously. "I mean, obviously just say no if you don't want to. I was just offering, since you sounded like you haven't done that much and I don't know, it's pretty nice, or I think so anyway, but I understand that it's a little out of character for you so-"

"Kaminari." One word from Todoroki snapped Denki's mouth shut without even an order. "Is it okay if we just…" He held out a single hand, palm up, hovering over Denki's thigh. Even still, he didn't lift his head.

Denki grinned wildly, hearing his own heartbeat for its intensity, and slotted his fingers through Todoroki's, pulling his hand into his lap, but not otherwise bringing them closer. "Of course, dude."

"It's not… weird?"

"Friends hold hands all the time, man." He grinned, but something inside his chest wasn't as enthusiastic as his head was. "Whatever you're comfortable with. The only reason I haven't done more of this with you is that I'm not sure what you're okay with. You know I'm super down for pda with my friends."

A weird pang again. It was strange. Denki fought the instinct to grimace. _Friends. Fuck, why is that weird? It's not like… oh fuck._ He forced himself to look at Todoroki, who was still bent over with his hand covering half his face. Todoroki looked up at him through his fingers. _Fuck. Mina's going to flip._ Denki made sure to keep his cheerful smile consistent. _I hold hands with cute people all the time and I'm always just happy to say I'm their friend. This has to be… fuck me. I mean, obviously I love him, but… like, date love? I want to just fucking hug him? God, why is this happening? Why does he have to be so damn attractive?_

His eyes sought Ashido, who had already caught on to what he and Todoroki were doing and was holding up her phone, snapping as many pictures as her phone's memory would allow. He gave her his best "red alert" look, which stilled her for just a moment. His phone vibrated. He pulled it out and looked at the message, positioning himself carefully to make sure Todoroki wouldn't see it.

AM: u ok?  
KD: IM SO FUCKED


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay, give it to me straight." Ashido had pulled him aside. Most of the class was sleeping in their respective bags, and Denki and Ashido were a respectable distance away, sitting on top of Ashido's sleeping bag.

"I'm so, completely, unbelievably, not straight."

Mina cackled, her joy found in Denki's suffering. "I'm sorry, buddy, but I can't help it. This is the best!"

"It's the worst!"

"No, no, no it's great! You've got a crush!"

"How is that great?"

Ashido grabbed his arm, bouncing with excitement. "Because crushes are great, silly!"

Denki gave her the most deadpan look he could manage given the situation. "I don't think you understand what is happening inside my body right now."

"Kaminari, you know I'm only capable of comprehending a minimal amount of testosterone."

Denki hugged himself tightly, writhing in his own skin. "Okay, so you know how it feels when you look at a really cute person?"

"Yaomomo when she's teaching. Or, I mean, any time, really."

"Exactly! Like, you're all warm and mushy inside!"

Ashido nodded seriously. "Okay, okay, I've got it so far."

"Well, my insides have been straight up liquefied."

"Todoroki can freeze them back solid for you."

"Mina!"

"Sorry, okay, not helping, got it." She raised her hands placatingly. "I'll try to contain myself. Continue."

Denki decided to forgive her. _I'd probably be doing the same thing, honestly._ "Like, I'm a mess anyway, but now? I'm just… so weak. Like I'm pretty sure my body is melting any time he gets near me. And he's so nice to hug? Like, he's just… perfectly warm? Maybe it's his quirk or something but I feel like a cat; I want to just curl up on his chest and take a nap."

"He does have a nice chest."

"Thank you! And you know, I always thought of him as like this big, intimidating presence, you know, but when we hug or hold hands I just…" Denki had a hard time forcing words out through his incoherent squealing. "He feels so small? Like not like he's shorter than me or anything but just like I can wrap my arms around him with plenty of space to spare and it's so weird but also so nice because it reminds me he's not so scary and he's really just another kid like us but he's _not_ because he's so beautiful and good and unique and oh my god, Mina, help me."

Ashido tapped her chin for a second. "So… we're figuring out how you're going to ask him out?"

"Hell no. We're figuring out how I can go back to being normal mush instead of such a useless bi."

"But you were a useless bi when you were normal mush."

"Fu- Min- Oh my fu-"

Ashido's hands covered her mouth. "Oh my god, I didn't even mean to tease you then. I think I have a problem."

"I mean… You're not wrong!"

"Seriously, though, I don't think you can or should be trying to avoid it, Denki."

He flopped backwards, sprawling out on the floor. "Also not wrong. But I mean, it's Todoroki. I can't ask out Todoroki."

"Why not?"

"First of all, he's way out of my league – keep your mouth shut, Mina." Ashido kept one hand firmly clamped over her mouth, but he could see her grin in her eyes. "Second, he's _Todoroki_."

"So I'm hearing – fuck, wait." Mina frowned. "Okay, so I'm hearing… the same reason twice."

"I know you're talking about the first one, you ain't subtle."

"Damn. Sorry. I couldn't help it."

"Why are we friends?"

"Because you love me! And anyway, it's just the crush. I don't normally tease you _this_ much."

Denki shrugged and grabbed her arm to pull her down so she was laying down with him. He slipped his hand into hers. "Anyway. I mean, I feel like I'm one of the ones in class who's closest to the guy, right?"

"Definitely physically. I've never seen him hold hands with Midoriya, or even hug, actually."

"Yeah, but like, I still don't really know much about him?"

"Come on, even I know enough about him to date him."

"Really now?"

"Yeah, like how his smile is like a breath of spring."

"I used that line for you."

"But you don't deny it! How his laughter is basically the real-life equivalent of being wrapped in an angel's wings. How in most situations he's basically just this cute confused puppy in the body of a modern day Adonis. How weirdly hot his heterochromia is. Personally, I could take or leave the hair, but those eyes."

"Fuck you, his hair is beautiful."

"Ooh, I bet it's soft."

"It really is. I didn't get it at first, but I went to the restroom at his place one time and saw his shampoo and I'm pretty sure it's worth more than I am."

"Honestly, same."

"It honestly smells so nice, too."

"You're the only one of us who'd know. The only time I've gotten that close to him is when he pinned me to the floor during sparring. I consider it a great day."

"He can pin me against anything he wants and I would consider it a blessed day."

"Stop leading me on, man! I'm seriously trying not to tease you right now!" Ashido shoved him playfully, eliciting a fit of giggles from both of them.

"Oh my god, I want to kiss him."

"Is that weird?"

"A little? I mean with like, you and Sero and most people I really want to like, hug you? Just, you know, hold your hand and be close? Like, I'd be totally down to kiss any of y'all, but I've only ever _wanted_ to kiss Bakugou, and that's mostly just because of his little pouty face."

"Oh my god, I know exactly what you mean. It's like he's _asking_ for a kiss."

"Right? How he sticks his lips out like he's freaking trying to make you stare at them. I'm not made of stone."

"Nah, dude, no judgement. I regularly want to kiss his dumb pouty face."

Denki sighed. "If only he wouldn't immediately murder us."

"Honestly."

"Well," Denki amended. "Lip kisses, I mean. I want to kiss all of you regularly."

"I'm always down for forehead kisses, honestly."

"Well what are you doing over there, then?" He wriggled closer as she returned the gesture. When he was close enough, he cupped her face with his free hand and gently pressed his lips to her forehead. She dissolved almost immediately into a mess of giggles and was still shaking from them when she grabbed his head and returned the gesture.

"For the record," she said, "I'm totally fine with kisses from you, anytime. Even on the lips, but I know that's romantic for you."

"Right back at you. For non-lip kisses."

"Ahh, geez." She covered her face. "We're supposed to be talking about Todoroki."

"He can kiss me anytime he wants, too."

"You wish."

"Yes, that's what we had established."

Ashido giggled some more, which made him laugh along with her. "So, what do you plan on doing about it?"

"Well, I can't ignore it, and I can't tell him."

"Yes, you can!"

"I'm sorry, did I give you the impression of being someone competent?"

"Say that again, mister number nine in class. Slower."

Denki blushed and had to hide in Ashido's shoulder. "Okay, I see your point. Consider this as a rebuttal. Knowing the class material does not qualify me to have any sort of control over emotions or my body."

"I see your point and raise you this. You are literally one of the most social people in this class. If anyone's going to be able to handle something like this, it's you."

"Oh, so we're all fucked. Good to know."

"Denki! I mean you can totally handle it!"

"You have way too much faith in me."

"No. You just don't have enough in yourself!"

Denki groaned. "We don't even know if Todoroki likes me."

"Uh, yeah. That's kind of the point of confessing."

"Oh god, what if he's straight?"

"Well, we know he isn't capital 'S' straight, so I don't think you need to worry."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Dude, you're like the most painfully bi person I've ever met. And I'm pretty sure like at least half the class is queer in some way. We would have figured it out by now."

"Good point."

"Look, think worst case scenario. What's the worst reaction you can imagine?"

Screaming, maybe some flames, maybe some ice, helpless and all alone as his mind clouds over and he loses control over his own body. He whimpered into her. "Why do you need to put that into my head?"

"For comparison. Now, think about the worst reaction you think Todoroki would _actually_ have."

He hummed. "He gets uncomfortable. All progress on the touching front flies out the window. He avoids me, goes back to just talking when necessary. Wouldn't blame him."

"Now, what's most likely?"

"Basically that but we still talk occasionally? Oh, and tutoring doesn't stop."

"Is that a little less scary now?"

"Did you just try to one-up my anxiety?"

"You know it. Did it work?"

"Only slightly."

"Really? I was half-sure it'd only scare you more."

He smacked her on the shoulder lightly. "Then why did you do it?!"

She grinned and shrugged. "First thing that came to mind. I only thought it through like halfway through doing it."

"Ugh, why are we the same person?"

She giggled and hugged him tighter. "But seriously, Denki, I get that it's scary, but this is Todoroki we're talking about. I don't even know him as well as you do, but even I know he's a sweetheart."

"But he's not even totally comfortable holding hands! I don't want to freak him out when he's getting more comfortable with me. You said it yourself, he's not physical with any of his friends. I don't want to screw things up when he's just starting to open up like that."

"In that case, wouldn't it be better to go into it being totally open about your feelings? Don't you think it would be more awkward and worse overall for him if he spent a long time learning to be physically comfortable with you and then he finds out that you've had a crush on his under wraps the entire time?"

"You're absolutely right. I just have to make sure he never finds out, ever."

"Wrong! You got to tell him so that there's no misunderstandings! It will come out eventually, that's unavoidable. If you tell him now, at least he knows what he's getting into. If you don't, he might think you were taking advantage of him or something."

"Oh my god. Don't say that." Denki whined. "Now I won't even be able to touch the guy until someone says something."

"Until _you_ say something."

"How?"

"How about, 'Hey Todoroki, I like you. Full homo.'?"

"Be serious, Mina!"

"I am! I mean, okay, yeah, not those exact words, but you get the point!"

"I am too weak."

"Well, unless you say it straight out, I don't think Todoroki will get the memo. He doesn't seem the most in tune with that kind of thing."

"I don't know, he seemed to realize when I flirted with him."

Ashido's voice broke above a whisper for a moment. "You _flirted_ with him!"

"I flirt with everyone. You know this. And shush! Admittedly, it might have just been the compliments, so you may be right. But he definitely reacted to a little of it."

"Well good! You're already on the right path!"

"Yeah, but that was before I had a crush on him! I can't do that now!"

Ashido ruffled his hair roughly. "You're so hopeless. It's not as bad as you're making it out to be."

"It's worse."

"It's better! And you know it!"

Denki pouted because he did know it. Ultimately, except for his insides experiencing spontaneous liquidation, nothing really changed. Sure, the term friend was a bit mixed with his want for a different type of relationship, but he was still happy that it was something they could all acknowledge anyway. The only real problem was Todoroki's willingness to explore physical affection with him. _It's not fair to him. I mean, I might actually fall apart if we get anywhere past hand holding but more importantly, I can't let him feel like I was doing it because of the crush. I especially don't want to accidentally give him the impression that non-romantic friends can't do that!_

 _I mean, sure, he sees me all the time with the others, but I wouldn't blame him if feelings got mixed up when the first person he tries that with develops a crush on him. He's probably at least a little touch-starved. I mean, he's definitely better about it than me, if I go half a day without hugs I start falling apart, but even his siblings don't actually touch him much, at least not while I was there, and I still don't know what's up with his parents but that doesn't bode well. If he's reaching out for affection, then I'm happy to provide, of course, but if he thinks I'm only doing it because I have a crush on him, he might just close up more!_

 _"So, you got to tell him! Explain the whole situation!" Yeah, thanks, that'll go well. We'll see just how well my voice works next time we have a heart-to-heart._

He pulled away from Ashido a little when he heard rustling and a body collapsing next to them. "What're we talking about?" Sero asked, a tired and playful grin stretching across his face.

Ashido looked to Denki for permission. He nodded and buried his head. "Denki has a crush."

A beat of a pause. "Wait, like, romantic, 'I want to kiss you' crush? Not his usual stuff?"

"Yes."

"Oh my god! Denki!" Denki was shaken when Sero enthusiastically rubbed his back. "That's great! Who is it? Are they in the class? Wait, don't tell me." Denki was perfectly content to not tell him and keep his face firmly on the floor. "Todoroki, right?"

"Why?" He whined into the padded floor.

"Ooh, yeah. I get it, dude, I'm pretty sure like half the class fell in love with him just from hearing him laugh tonight."

"Yeah," Ashido said. "And Kaminari got to hold him in his arms while he laughed."

Sero made a hissing noise. "Right. Really, how could anyone expect you _not_ to fall in love?"

"I hate you both." Denki mumbled into the floor.

Both of them piled on top of him, crushing him with their combined affection. The three of them hung out there, chatting late into the night. Denki was pretty sure everyone else was already asleep long before them, but a cursory glance showed him several distinct groups, and he was too far away from most to tell if they were actually sleeping or if they were just laying down and talking like he was.

Nonetheless, he was getting tired. He didn't check the time, but he knew it had to have been well after midnight, probably closer to sunrise than normal bedtime. They ended up falling asleep like that, in a small cuddle pile, comforted by each other's presence.

Denki had a lot to think about. Though Ashido was right in that he definitely should tell Todoroki, especially if the hand-holding incident wasn't just a one-time, party thing, it was still a new experience for him, and he didn't want to rush into anything.

 _I mean, what's really the difference between what I feel for Todoroki and what I do for Mina? Is there a difference? I mean… I want to kiss him… but I wouldn't mind Mina kissing me, anyway. This is a mess. I'm a mess. How am I supposed to tell if it's really a crush and not just a friend-thing?_

 _Just like… list it out? The whole "I'm melting inside" thing is worse, like I told Mina. Even when I met these guys and was just starting to be friends with them, it never got this bad. Come on, Denki, you've had to have had a crush before, right? Or… not?_

 _I think the biggest hint has to be the whole "I'm a little disappointed about using the word friend to describe us" thing. Like, maybe if we said "best friend" it would be better? It'd be odd not to say best with Mina or Sero. But is that it, though? What's the line between best friend and crush?_

 _I should talk to Mina. I mean, yeah, we just had the crush talk, but I want to be absolutely sure before jumping into anything. She would know, right? She acted like what I was describing was a crush. But I feel it with everyone? To different degrees, obviously. Can you have, like, regular crushes, then super crushes? Who would know about crushes?_

 _Fuck, am I just fooling myself? I mean kisses are romantic for me. I'm not against kissing platonically, but it's definitely a more romantic gesture in my mind. Is that my line? What about dating? Would I date Todoroki?_ He felt himself flush even worse than he had already. _That's a hard yes. Ashido? Honestly? If she wanted to._

 _Okay, so maybe the difference is "I want to do it" instead of "I would do it"? If that makes any sort of sense at all. It's still kind of terrifying, because that's not super clear to me. What if I screw things up with Todoroki because of nothing?_

Ashido mumbled in her sleep and clung tighter to his arm. _I'll think more about it tomorrow. If I keep going at this rate, I'm just going to hurt myself. Everything's too new right now. I'm just overcomplicating it with this. How about I just let tomorrow play out? We'll see how the morning goes, and then I can spend more time considering everything._

He smiled at Ashido, running a hand through her bangs to move them enough to give her a kiss on the forehead. She reacted sluggishly, moving her arms to readjust her grip on him and smiling. Denki wasn't sure if she was awake, just a little bit at least, or if she was just reacting in her sleep. _Doesn't matter. She's adorable either way._ He turned away from her to drag Sero closer while she nuzzled into his back. It was like that that he finally slipped into sleep for the night, framed by his already napping friends.

It was a peaceful night. The padded floor wasn't as comfortable as his bed, but having his friends right next to him made it more than worth it. And even though he knew he didn't get nearly as much sleep as he should have, when he was woken up by Sero disentangling himself from the pile, he couldn't bring himself to care. He turned and clung to Ashido, but she was stirring as well. "Mmm." She groaned, clutching him tight.

He opened his eyes and looked around. Most of the class was up already, either missing completely, presumably to the restroom or showers, or chatting in the lounge area again. He spotted Uraraka, who had a shining humor in her eyes as she looked at him and Ashido, and Todoroki, who met his eyes impassively.

"I love you, Denki," Ashido muttered, "but stay still." She pulled him tighter to her, scrunching up her face.

"Everyone else is already awake."

"Tell me when it's not morning."

"Come on, Mina."

"Just a few more hours."

"I'll give you a few minutes."

"Good enough. Stay still."

He did, smiling at her all the while. A minute or two into the waiting game, just when he thought Ashido was starting to fall asleep again, he noticed Todoroki walking over to them.

Denki gave him a smile, trying not to turn much so as not to disturb Ashido. "Is this common for you?" Todoroki's mismatched eyes were as enigmatic as always, never betraying what went on behind them. Denki found that particular trait was just starting to annoy him. _I liked when he was smiling, better. When I could see the happiness in his eyes._

"We rarely _plan_ sleepovers, but yeah, kind of."

Todoroki shook his head, a small smirk allowing Denki the pleasure of knowing of his amusement. "I couldn't imagine." Todoroki mumbled under his breath. Louder, for Denki's ears, he said, "You guys are cute."

Denki was half-convinced Todoroki was using his fire quirk with how hot he became so suddenly. "W-well, uh, yeah! We're the cutest best friends in school, and that is just an indisputable fact." Denki swallowed his saliva, trying to moisten his dry throat. He hoped his voice held more of its usual humor and cheer than it sounded to him.

A raised eyebrow. "I can believe it. Sometimes I can't believe you're just friends, though."

Denki knew why, of course. He knew he was far more affectionate with his friends than most, especially at events like this. He toned it down a little in regular school, but things accumulate, and people would assume hetero romance just because he breathed the same air as her. Still, he thought it might be a chance to get some insight into how Todoroki viewed relationships, so he put on a sly smirk and asked, "Really? Why's that?"

Todoroki's eyes widened, as if he didn't expect the question. _Probably didn't, it is obvious enough._ "It's just…" A pink tinge painted Todoroki's cheeks and he rubbed his neck uncomfortably. Denki couldn't help but grin at the sight. "You know." He gestured to them both vaguely.

"Do I?"

Todoroki scowled. "I honestly don't know if you're being serious or not. It's because of the cuddling, you know. And you're always complimenting each other or teasing each other."

Denki's grin fell slowly. _It's so weird. I mean, objectively, like, platonic love! Yeah! But also, am I really weird for doing this?_ He looked to Ashido, who was breathing steadily. Denki and Todoroki weren't talking loudly enough to bother her, apparently.

"Kaminari?"

"Huh? Sorry."

"What's wrong."

"Oh, nothing." _I didn't think about it when it was all I had, but what if I do have a crush, and I do get in a relationship? Not with Todoroki, just anyone. Wouldn't this kind of thing be kind of inappropriate?_

"Kaminari…" Todoroki's voice was stern, the same no-nonsense voice he used when he was making it clear Denki wouldn't get out of talking about his quirk.

"Don't worry about it. I was just thinking."

"Overthinking, from the looks of it."

"Oh, you're one to talk."

"Which is why I can recognize it in you, Kaminari. What's wrong?"

Denki sighed. "I don't know. I know we basically look like we're dating."

"At least you're aware."

Denki frowned. "Now you're starting to sound like her." He gestured with his chin to Ashido. Todoroki shrugged. "The thing is, what if I do, you know, actually get in a relationship? Would I have to stop this?"

Todoroki scowled. "If you date someone who tells you you can't be yourself, they don't deserve you." Denki furrowed his brow. "You're a friendly person. And touchy. That's not a bad thing, and if anyone thinks they can keep you all to themselves, they're fools." He shrugged, his frown turning into a gentle smile. "Besides, I'm pretty sure anyone you date would have to get Ashido's approval first, and she's not going to give you up."

A mumbled voice accompanied the breath warming his chest. "To'roki's right. I approve of him."

"Mina!" Denki was sure he was going to combust, but a glance told him that Todoroki was in a similar state. The red that bloomed across his cheeks was uniquely intense, and that only made Denki's problem worse. Denki decided to focus on Ashido to spare himself from facing Todoroki for just a moment. "If you were awake, you should have said something!"

Ashido opened her eyes, still bleary but her smile was mischievous as ever. "But then I would have missed out on that gem of a conversation."

Denki buried his face in his hands, hoping that the darkness behind his eyelids would swallow him up.

"It's alright." Todoroki said. "Kaminari?"

"I'm fine." He squeaked.

"You don't sound fine?"

"No really. It's exactly the kind of thing I'd expect from her, actually." He managed to come out of hiding so he could sit up.

Ashido whined, not letting go of his arm and being dragged a little with him. "No…"

"Hey, I said a few more minutes. And anyway, you pull a stunt like that and you lose your napping privileges."

"Ugh, fine." She sat up with him, though she still leaned on his shoulder, rubbing her bleary eyes. "Todoroki really is right, though. Someone tells you to tone down the affection and I'll fight them myself."

"I'll help." Todoroki said.

"Aw, yeah! Now I know we'd win!"

Todoroki chuckled. "Something tells me that if it's Kaminari, you'd win any battle."

Ashido elbowed Denki just a little more roughly than necessary. "I like him. He's a keeper."

Todoroki flushed before Denki could hide his face again. "Are you going to joke like that every time we talk?"

"Only while Denki's here to get embarrassed by it." Denki slapped her shoulder without any enthusiasm.

Todoroki held both his hands out. Denki took one, Ashido took the other, and he pulled them both to their feet. "Good to know." He said.

Denki stretched, his arms far above his head and leaning back. _Okay, my back clearly wasn't designed for that floor. I'm not old enough that this should be happening, ugh._

Someone ( _Mina._ ) slipped a hand under his shirt, in the space of exposed skin that his stretching revealed, and patted his abdomen before sliding around him to tickle his sides. "Mi- pfft- Min- Why?"

She was relentless, bringing him straight back to the ground without releasing him, and pinning him to keep him from escaping. "Todoroki, help me!" She called over her shoulder.

Denki couldn't control himself enough to keep an eye on Todoroki. "Huh?" Todoroki sounded conflicted. "Shouldn't I help him?"

"Maybe. But tell me you want to make him _stop_ laughing."

To Denki's surprise, his ticklish torment continued for a long few seconds after that, as if Todoroki was actually considering what to do. "Ashido, I think he's had enough."

Ashido relented, and through his panting, Denki managed to take stock, noticing that Todoroki didn't actually make any move to stop Ashido other than his words. His face was also rather red, which made Denki smile. Ashido got off of him, leaving him gasping for breath on the floor, his hands instinctively moving to his exposed stomach both as a defense against future attacks and to feel his rapidly rising and falling belly.

Todoroki offered his hand once more, but Denki had to take a few more seconds to catch his breath before taking it. "Are you okay?"

"Whew. I'm fine. Been a while." He turned to Ashido, and her expression told him that she knew what she had gotten herself into. _Good._ He tackled her, tickling her as well until she was gasping for breath. "What was that for?" He chuckled, unrelenting.

"You- the- belly!"

Denki stopped, letting her breathe. He furrowed his brow. "What?"

"Your belly, stupid." She reached down and lifted his shirt. "Stop showing off your abs if you don't want people to touch them."

"Aw, darling, you can touch me anytime."

"Save it for Todoroki, Sparky."

Denki covered his face. Todoroki just looked at the both of them, his cheeks red. "Oh my god." He mumbled. "Both of them together is too much." He ran his hands down his face. "I'll, uh, let you two get ready. I should probably make sure… Mineta's still alive. Or something."

As they watched Todoroki's retreating back, Mina elbowed him once more. "By the way, now that he's gone, the real reason I tickled you?" Denki looked over to her in surprise. She snickered mischievously. "To spare you both the embarrassment of you catching him staring at your belly." To make her point, she lifted up his shirt again and patted the area just over his waistband. "You're welcome."

Denki dissolved at even the thought. All he could manage to say came out squeaky, so much so that he didn't really understand how Ashido could decipher his words. "What? You liar."

"M-mm." She shook her head, a cocky grin plastered on her face. "I would never lie about your love life."

"W-wait, so you were…"

"Keeping you distracted and giving Todoroki a better view at the same time? Of course, I was."

"I fucking hate you, oh my god."

"Love you, too, buddy."


	8. Chapter 8

Love was stupid. Denki didn't have a clear concept on what it was even supposed to be. He knew it. He knew how it felt and he knew how to identify it, but he couldn't reconcile what he knew and what he thought he was supposed to.

"I've never been put in this position before!" Denki said to Kirishima's amused look. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Don't think about intensity, dude. You love everyone too much for that. Think about what makes it different."

Denki did stop to ponder it, coming to the same conclusions he had been. "I want to kiss him."

"You don't want to kiss me?"

"I _would_ , but it's not the same, no. And… I want to date him? But what is dating? I mean I'm basically dating Mina, right?"

Kirishima snickered. "Yeah, basically. But you're not."

"So, what's the difference?"

He shrugged. "What you call yourselves, I guess."

"Does that matter?"

"Does it matter to you?"

Denki frowned, groaned, collapsed on the bed. _Yes._ He thought, almost bitterly. _It does matter._ "I hate this."

"Dude, you know you like him."

"Yeah, I do, but unless I can figure out how this _works_ , how am I supposed to face him about it?"

Kirishima patted him on the back. "You just got to man up! If you don't say anything, you'll regret it! You can figure out the details together."

Denki made a long, sustained note of frustration. "I'm totally prepared for rejection, you know? Like that's fine, I get it. I'd be a terrible boyfriend anyway. And I know I have to say something, that's going to be hard, but I'm going to have to. But what if we actually, somehow, for some reason, ended up doing the boyfriend thing?"

"You'd be happy?"

"I would be a terrible boyfriend! I flirt with everyone, anyone who doesn't know me thinks I'm dating half the class, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do or what I _can_ do to make him any different from anyone else. How am I supposed to say 'this is my boyfriend' when I can't treat him any different than I do my best friend?"

Kirishima started laughing. "Make out with him once or twice and I think he'll get the memo. No one else matters, so don't worry about them."

Denki frowned and hugged himself. "But is that… it? There's really nothing else I can do just for him, unless I want to _stop_ doing things with my other friends."

"Kaminari, man." Kirishima took him by the shoulders and held his gaze firmly, staring into his soul. "Your affection for your friends," he said slowly, "is one of the many things that he should love about you. You said he told you himself, if anyone tries to tell you to stop they need to be dropped."

"It's not him I'm worried about. And even just forgetting about Todoroki. I feel guilty that I can't do anything for a potential boyfriend or girlfriend to make them feel more special than anyone else."

Kirishima seemed genuinely baffled. "They don't have to be. Man, we're good enough friends that I know that's not how you roll, anyway. You make _everyone_ feel special. It doesn't matter who they are. You don't put one relationship over another. And again, that's one the things to love about you! It doesn't matter if you're putting just as much effort into making your friends happy as you are your partner, what matters is that you _do_ make your partner feel special. Your future boyfriend is not, and never will be, more important than us, man. If you tried to do that, you'd feel guilty with _us_."

Denki couldn't help but laugh. He knew there wasn't really anything funny, but Kirishima was just so right that Denki had to appreciate just how well his friend understood him. _Better than I do myself, usually._

"That's the 'you're right' laugh." _Goddamn it._ "You know I'm right."

Denki hooked Kirishima's arm with his own, leaning into him. "Of course you're right. I still feel bad."

"Ashido already gave her approval, right? I'm not her, but you should know my approval comes with a test."

Denki scoffed playfully. "What's that?"

"When he sees you cuddling with someone other than him, he smiles. If he does that, then he's got my approval."

"Well lucky Todoroki, then."

Kirishima excitedly pointed above Denki's head. "Hey, look at that! The point! It's right there. So close."

Denki shoved Kirishima so he tipped over, cackling, on the bed. "Okay, okay." Denki whined. "I get it. He probably won't mind my cuddliness with everyone else."

As if to prove the point, Kirishima pulled him down so that he was laying on top of his classmate. "Uh, exactly? I mean, if you were going to date anyone, it's good it's someone who knows the deal going into it. And he knows better than to mess with your best friends."

Denki laughed. "Aw, babe. You'd fight for me?"

"Duh! It wouldn't be manly not to."

Both of them seemed to have the same idea to hold each other especially tight. "I guess it doesn't matter, I mean, like Todoroki will want to date me."

"You'd be surprised. I think you're in a better position than you think."

Denki snickered and patted Kirishima's chest. "Really now? Because I'm pretty sure there's no position better than this one right here."

Kirishima shoved him totally off the bed, sending him toppling to the floor, his own laughter stopping him from breaking his fall effectively. "Ow."

The mirth and humor in Kirishima's voice told Denki that he didn't mean to knock him off the bed, but still found it hilarious. "Love you, bro."

Denki was still speaking into the floor when he responded, stretching one arm awkwardly to give Kirishima a thumbs-up. "Love you too."

When Denki had clambered back up next to Kirishima, they kept talking, mostly rehashing the same stuff. Kirishima's position on Denki's predicament was made perfectly clear, and Denki begrudgingly agreed that he had a point. _It's something I need to work out with whoever I date. So long as things are clear and agreed upon, there's not really a problem._

 _That means I need to tell him. Great. Let's just go to Todoroki's like, "Hey, want to be my boyfriend?" Because that'll end well._

Denki actually remembered to go home that day, so he parted with Kirishima not too much later. The next day was Tuesday, and that ran by like any other. Ashido, Kirishima, and Sero questioned him during lunch about what he was going to do the next day when he had tutoring with Todoroki, but other than that, he managed to distract himself with day-to-day activities.

Not that the questioning wasn't unwelcome. It helped him figure out a plan, for as much as it was one. _I need to put it out there right at the beginning. Let Todoroki decide what to do with it. Promise yourself and him and everyone that you won't let any inevitable rejection stop you from learning._

 _Can I do that? It's not unexpected, and I do have practice studying while distracted. So… maybe. I'll certainly do my best._

That Tuesday passed by and Denki enjoyed the last few hours he had before something changed. He wasn't sure if it would be for good or bad or even if it wouldn't impact him much at all, but it was a change, and Denki took those moments to appreciate how things were before he'd lose that state of being forever. But soon enough, he was once again at Todoroki's door.

When Todoroki smiled at him, his chest felt like static, prickling and kinetic and shapeless. He swallowed down his nerves. Fear didn't stop him from doing his best. It never had, and it certainly wasn't going to with this. _It's not something I should keep to myself, anyway. I'm not even doing it to try for anything other than what we already have. I'm doing it because it's fair to him._

There was nothing small about Todoroki, Denki decided when he took his familiar spot on Todoroki's bed. He was surrounded by giants in UA, but Todoroki towered above all of them, sometimes even over Bakugou. In some areas, at some times, Denki felt like Todoroki was so big, or maybe that he was so small, that he couldn't even see the edges of Todoroki's power. It was all-encompassing, overtaking him and phagocytizing him without even noticing.

His quirk was unfairly powerful, he was one of the most intelligent people in class, both in book-smarts and battle, he was visually striking, with his dual colors and cool aura, and even Denki's feelings for him were massive, oppressive, crushing.

That's why, when he sat down on Todoroki's bed and offered his hand, when Todoroki hesitantly slipped his fingers through Denki's, when he felt that careful, calloused hand fit against his like anyone else's, he had a hard time putting two and two together. It warmed him like a sip of tea in winter, but it also felt clunky, odd – physically, it was fine, their hands slotted together as hands do, he always appreciated how people seemed to be made to hold each other, but in his head, he still couldn't separate the giant from the person. It felt like in order for Todoroki to hold his hand like that, he had to limit his power, or take on a smaller form like some sort of god appearing to him in a body that his mortal mind would be able to comprehend. It felt like Todoroki made himself small for him, and that was both flattering and disconcerting.

But that wasn't what made Denki squirm. It was a good weird. It made him happy, even in its oddness. No, it was the twisting in his gut, the heat on his cheeks, the knowledge that the two perceptions of their relationship, his and Todoroki's, weren't the same. More importantly, that they were looking in different directions. Because Denki could question what the difference between romantic and platonic love was all day, the fact remained that he wanted that label, that name, "boyfriend" or "partner" or "dating" to apply, even if he knew it didn't mean much overall. That's what Ashido told him. That's what Sero and Kirishima told him. "Go for it." They said.

He wasn't sure about going for it, but he sure as hell couldn't sit there and hold hands with Todoroki, or feel Todoroki lean over him to point out something in their notes, stay so close together, while withholding that bit of information that meant nothing but could mean something.

Todoroki pulled his hand away unexpectedly, while Denki was trying to sort out his thoughts. It made Denki focus on him, on the worry etched into the lines on his face, the odd expression mixed in with it – something like guilt. "You're uncomfortable." He said. It wasn't a question. Denki opened his mouth to reassure him, but his voice denied him that pleasure. "Is it me? I'm sorry, I know that… holding hands and stuff is weird with me."

"No." Denki forced out, almost the only coherent thought in his head. "No, no, no. It's not you." Todoroki looked at him doubtfully. Denki took a deep breath and caved into Todoroki's piercing gaze. "Okay, yeah, it's you, but not how you think. I swear, I'm totally comfortable with this whole affection thing with you. I like it!"

Todoroki's eyes were cautious, iced over with a burning shield. But Denki knew Todoroki trusted him. He could see deep enough to tell that he was prepared for an explanation. "But?" Todoroki prompted.

Denki shifted, tearing his eyes away. "But… I can't do it until I know we're on the same page."

"The same page?"

Denki forced himself to meet his friend's gaze. He deserved that kind of respect, and Denki would regret it if he shied away even that much. "Or at least, that you understand what book I'm reading." He shook his head, chuckling nervously. "No more metaphors. Look, dude, you know I'm super down for the platonic affection thing."

"Yeah…"

"But I don't want it to be that way with you."

Todoroki furrowed his brow. "I don't understand."

"I mean, Todoroki, I mean that…" Denki ran his hands up his face, covering his eyes just enough to give him a moment of respite from the look on Todoroki's face. He let his hands continue their path through his hair. "I want to date you."

Silence. The crinkle between Todoroki's brows disappeared, then deepened even further.

"I, uh, yeah. That's it. That's all. I don't mind holding hands or cuddling or… you know, anything, really. I don't. And it's totally fine if you want to do that as just friends, or not at all. But I want to do it as boyfriends. Or partners. Or whatever you want to call it."

Todoroki's jaw worked as his mouth moved, but still no sound came out.

Denki stood his ground, not allowing the invisible rope around his neck or whoever was tugging on it to pull his head down. He struggled, grit his teeth, against the pull, but he couldn't permit it. He had to be brave, to hold out until Todoroki could process what he had pretty suddenly sprung on him. His breath was shaky, but all he could do about that was put on a smile to cover it up. Like sweeping it under the rug.

Todoroki's voice was, despite everything Denki thought about him, small. "What?"

"I like you. Like, crush-ways."

"B-but…" Todoroki couldn't seem to even understand the words, which nearly put a grimace on Denki's face. It took everything he had to maintain his casual, cheery façade.

"Todoroki." He decided, for both their sakes, to try to defuse the situation. Find the faucet to let all the compounding feelings in the room drain out. "I don't need a response, man." He actually chuckled there, a real one. His own tension was replaced with affection in a moment, assuming, from the looks of it, that the lack of a proper response was more Todoroki's awkwardness than anything foreboding. "I wasn't looking for one. It's fine if you don't know what to say, or if you don't _have_ anything to say." He gently took Todoroki's hand in his, smiling carefully, warmly, and ducking down so Todoroki's lowered gaze could catch him. "I just needed you to know, because if you didn't, I wouldn't feel okay doing this." He squeezed the hand in his gently. "Or flirting, or you know, _being me_."

Feeling too daring for the logical part of his mind, he slowly, so Todoroki had time to move away if he didn't want to allow it, reached with one hand to brush Todoroki's hair out of the way. Since his head was still bowed, Denki ended up holding his bangs out of his face to give them both a clear view of the other's eyes. "I'm not trying to put you on the spot." Denki murmured. "So please don't feel like you need to do anything except… know. All I want is for you to know. Okay?"

Todoroki's face was red, and he looked a little bit wild, a little ready to flee. He nodded, a jerk of the head, something like a twitch.

And like that, Denki was happy. He was comfortable. There was a small weight over his heart, a tinge of disappointment, but it was nothing he couldn't ignore. He sighed with relief and released Todoroki to lean back on his arms. "Whew, well, glad I could get that out." He grinned at Todoroki, who still looked stunned. "Where were we, again?" Denki started shuffling through his notes, more than happy to get the studying going once more, until Todoroki's hand on his arm stopped him.

Denki looked up. Todoroki was worrying his lip, and quickly retracted his hand to hug himself tightly. "You just… You just say that and then go right back to studying?"

Denki blinked. "Why not? I need to study if I want to keep doing well, right. That's why we're here together anyway."

Todoroki closed his eyes. He seemed on some weird cusp between laughing and frustration. "You're unbelievable."

Denki chuckled. "Yeah?"

"I've said it before, but… you're the bravest person I've ever met."

"And I've said, I know some of our classmates are braver than me." Denki tapped his pen on the notebook in his lap. His eyes found the spot it hit the paper and he allowed himself to stare at it for a while.

"No. I have no doubt now." Todoroki shook his head. "You deserve more than I have to offer right now."

"Todoroki, I said, it's fine. I'm just happy you know. I don't need anything else."

"But you want something else."

"Well, yeah." Denki shrugged. "Of course, I do. But I mean, you're not yelling at me, so I consider it a pretty good confession."

Todoroki sighed. The corner of his lips twitched upwards just a little. "Only you would joke like that right now."

"Well, that's part of my charm."

A small, weak laugh. "Yeah."

"Look, Todoroki." Denki put his notes aside once more and turned again to face him straight on. "What I want? I want to keep holding your hand. I want to cuddle and I want to kiss you. I want you to keep tutoring me. I want to keep talking to you. I want to be your friend and I want to get closer to you. I want to be able to call you my boyfriend." He shrugged. "But telling you was what I needed, and so I did it. All that that I _want_ is up to you. And it's okay if I don't get it all, you know? I'm not going to be sad because I only got a few things I wanted instead of everything. You being comfortable and happy is more important anyway. I'll be happy knowing you're not doing anything you aren't down for."

"Happy? Really?"

"Disappointed? Sure. But yeah, happy. You smile and I will. And if it does get hard, I've got some of the best friends in the world to help me through it."

"You really are something else."

"Thank you?"

Todoroki frowned. He grabbed Denki's hand and squeezed. "I'm sorry, but I don't have anything to say."

"That's fine."

"I'll try to sort through everything, if you'll wait for a real answer."

"However long you need." Denki grinned, making sure that Todoroki felt the warmth that Denki did. _It's not a rejection. I know not to get my hopes up, but he's going to think it over seriously. Which is, at least, not a no._ "Just say when you're ready, and what you're comfortable with. I'll go with whatever you decide."

It was out of his hands. Denki couldn't do anything but wait for Todoroki to come to some conclusion. And it hurt, it did. He was disappointed, because how could he not be when he admits something like that and is met with question marks? He was terrified, because even though things seemed to go well, once the shock wore off Todoroki might be uncomfortable with him, and no matter how much Denki assured him, he might still feel guilty or uncomfortable doing anything that could be interpreted as intimate together. He was frustrated, facing the unknown, an unknown response in an unknown amount of time.

But none of that was enough to knock the smile off his face. He was more than happy to give Todoroki all the time he needed. He was ecstatic that he didn't have to worry that his own actions might be misinterpreted. He was in a little meadow, and through he saw the storm in the distance, he didn't know if it would hit him. It was scary, but he had hope and he had the beauty already around him. And even if he didn't, he firmly believed that it was in those moments that it was hardest to smile that he needed to the most.

"Come on." Denki said, tugging lightly on Todoroki's hand. "Smile for me."

Todoroki did, and shook his head, and together they moved on to their schoolwork without another word on the subject.

But unspoken though it was, it never fully left the room. Todoroki spaced out a lot, and without Todoroki's watchful eye over him, Denki ended up spacing out quite a bit as well. They only covered a fraction, a large one but a fraction nonetheless, of their usual material in their time slot. Denki ended up skating home with the notes of everything they couldn't get to in his bag and a promise to study it harder than ever in his heart. _I need to. It's my fault anyway, and I'm not going to let him feel guilty about letting me fall behind because he was distracted by my confession._

The cool air on his face and through his hair was refreshing and freeing after a room in the stifling atmosphere of Todoroki's room. Once removed from the place, Denki realized there was more tension than he thought. It bubbled in his gut and bled out and was whisked away by the wind.

He allowed himself that moment of peace. He'd have to tell Ashido and Kirishima and Sero how it went, since they all knew his tutoring was over and that he planned on telling Todoroki that day, but before diving into that mess, he had his brief moment of transit. Twenty minutes with nothing but blurring colors and a pervasive quiet in his soul, complimented by the ambient residential cacophony in his ears. He didn't think anything in particular; he just let thoughts slip by. He'd have to do that enough only twenty short minutes later.

"Denki!" Ashido's screaming pulled him out of his reverie before he even pulled up to his house. He grinned and shook his head, and when he got close enough, he jumped to solid land at a run and scooped up his skateboard in one motion, jogging the rest of the way to his door, where Ashido, Kirishima, and Sero all waited for him. His mother was behind them in the entranceway, looking amused.

"About time, man!" Kirishima called.

"Yeah, we've been waiting!" Sero said, chuckling.

"Your friends," Denki's mother said, placing her hand on Ashido's head, "showed up about ten minutes ago."

Denki laughed in exasperation. "I would have texted you guys, you didn't need to come over!"

"Yes, we did!" Ashido said definitively. Kirishima and Sero nodded along with her.

Denki's mother gazed down at the group with mock seriousness. "Is there something I should know about?"

Denki flushed and kicked off his shoes and dragged his friends past his mom as quickly as possible. "Maybe later, Mom!" He called. She laughed. Denki was pretty sure she knew what was happening, though he wasn't clear on how. _Probably not hard to figure out. She knows me._

"So?" Ashido asked excitedly, taking her place on his bed. "How did it go? Are you dating?"

"No, we are not dating." Denki placed himself between Ashido and Sero on his bed, while Kirishima pulled up his desk chair. "He asked for some time to think about it."

"Ooh." Kirishima whistled. "Thinking about it, huh? That means he wants to."

"I'm pretty sure that's not what that means."

Sero patted his back. "Nope, Kirishima's right. If he didn't want to, he'd have said no. He's just going through his panicking like you did before you asked him."

"Yeah." Ashido giggled. "You know. 'What does a boyfriend do, anyway? What if I don't actually feel what I'm feeling? What if dating is pointless because no one except me actually exists and I'm just trapped in my own mind, unaware that everything I experience is a construct of some terrifying dream?'"

"Mina…" Kirishima groaned. "I did not need that existential crisis."

"Sorry." She giggled, clearly not sorry at all.

"You get the point, though!" Sero said, apparently electing to ignore Kirishima's dramatic whining. "I bet he's in his room right now blushing more than you are, still trying to get it through his mind that you love him."

"Seconded!" Ashido said. "He's probably talking to Yaomomo and freaking out and she's telling him to be excited but he's still in denial because he's Todoroki and probably never thought anyone would ask him out."

Denki laughed. "What makes you think that he thinks that?"

"He's Todoroki?" Ashido said it like it was obvious. "Hate to break it to you kid, but not everyone is as social as us. _We_ barely accept that anyone might like us that way, what do you think someone who has like three friends would think?"

"She has a point." Kirishima said. "I'm like half-sure y'all are joking when you say you love me and it isn't even romantic."

There was a half-beat of silence before everyone jumped on Kirishima. "What are you talking about! We love you one-hundred percent!"

Kirishima, through his laughter and his smile, managed to fight them all off, after a while. "I was making a point, guys! Of course I know you love me! Geez."

"Honestly, you should have expected that." Sero said. "You know us."

"And I love you. And yes, I did expect it." His grin turned sly. "I wanted a hug."

Everyone immediately got back up to hug him again.

When everyone had returned to their seats, Denki sighed. "No, I get it, though. You guys are right. I just kind of dumped it on him, it makes sense for him to need time to think about it himself, even if he doesn't return my feelings."

"He will, though!"

Denki gave Ashido a dry stare. "You don't know that."

"No, but I want to believe." She hummed and leaned on his shoulder. "And anyway, I haven't forgotten the look on his face when you were stretching at the party."

Sero and Kirishima perked up. "That sounds like a story."

"Oh, yeah, Todoroki was definitely staring."

"Seriously?"

"Mhmm." She indicated on herself the area from her waistband to her belly button. "Denki's shirt lifted up and he couldn't look away."

"No fucking way."

"I would never lie about Kaminari's love life."

The boys exploded, with shouts of "dude!" and "oh my god!" Denki just hid his face in his hands. "I don't buy it."

"You don't have to believe it for it to be true."

"I believe it." Sero said. "Mina wouldn't lie about your love life, dude."

"Why is it always mine that's specified?"

Kirishima laughed. "Man, you know she'd lie through her teeth about her own love life."

"I can't even dispute this." Ashido shrugged.

Denki couldn't help but laugh. "Speaking of, how are all of you doing on that front?"

"Still boring." Kirishima said.

"Really?" Ashido waggled her eyebrows. "There's _nothing_ to mention? Not even after sleeping on Bakugou at the party? Or your 'appreciation' gift which was basically just a date?"

Kirishima flushed. "Holy shit, that was a lot like a date, wasn't it? Look! Nothing happened. Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't push me off at the party."

"I'm not." Sero said. "He likes you."

"Not like that, though! And what about you? Why don't we talk about your love life?"

"Because I don't have one, duh."

"Denki's the only one that does!"

"Fair point."

They stayed together for most of the afternoon, gossiping and chatting until they all lost track of time. While Denki was planning on just texting them, he was glad they joined him. He was able to relax and sit content, despite the terrifying thing he had done earlier that day. _If these guys weren't here… well, it doesn't matter. I'm just glad they are._


	9. Chapter 9

The waiting game was way out of Denki's pay grade. It wasn't that he couldn't handle it, he could. It was just very stressful. He did his best not to clue Todoroki in on it, which was relatively easy for discussions or tutoring at first. Really, it was just the moment that Todoroki first said hello to him at any given interaction that made his heart race and his throat close up and made him feel a little like crying.

But that reaction wasn't from fear. It had been the rest of the week and more and Todoroki and he got along as well as ever. They didn't touch much aside from casual touches on the shoulder or arm but they didn't before any of that either, so Denki was content to assume it was just because they were in public and not because Todoroki didn't want to hold his hand again. Either way, he counted his blessings since Todoroki didn't seem to be any more awkward with him when they just talked, and so far he hadn't closed himself off, which he figured boded well for his chances at staying friends.

Still, knowing every "hello" could come with a decision, every glance might be a debate, every word a weight one way or another, was stressful. It was suspenseful. The frustration was starting to bug him in a way that it didn't a week earlier. Once or twice, he wondered if Todoroki just forgot about his confession, and needed to be reassured by his friends that Todoroki wouldn't forget about something like that.

Focusing in class was more difficult than ever. He wasn't even necessarily distracted by Todoroki or the situation, it just made him so antsy that it was harder to sit still. He was on hair-trigger alert all the time and it was getting tiring but he couldn't do anything to stop it. Settling down to sleep was getting difficult. He wasn't always well-rested just because of bad habits before, but recently he was nearly always tired because he'd lay down to go to bed but his body remained tense and stressed and he'd lay in the darkness for an hour or two before actually falling asleep, and then it wasn't exactly the best sleep he'd ever gotten.

And worse than that, Denki was terrified. Not of romance or the lack of it. He was reassured enough that they could, at the very least, remain friends through it all. But he was terrified that even in their friendship, he wouldn't be able to make Todoroki feel as special as he wanted to. He knew they could still talk and that Todoroki would still tutor him and that they could still sit together and it wouldn't be awkward, but Denki was terrified that Todoroki wouldn't let him support him. Because that's what Denki really wanted. He wanted to be a whisper to bring him down when his thoughts got too loud. He wanted to stay up with him until he fell asleep, peaceful and calm and graced and never haunted. He wanted to be present and he wanted to care and he wanted to support him even though he knew Todoroki was so much bigger and so much stronger but he wouldn't crumble under the pressure. He would be Atlas if he needed to, and he wanted to hold up Todoroki's world, but he knew that there was a good chance of that never happening.

They would be friends, yes, and Denki took comfort in that, but with his crush in the open, they'd never be friends like Ashido and Kirishima and Sero. They would be friendly, but they wouldn't be each other's occasional plus-one. They would like each other, but they wouldn't always take a phone call.

That was Denki's line. That was what Denki wanted more than anything else. More than any names or labels or kisses or cuddles. Denki just wanted Todoroki to let him support him, to let him prioritize Todoroki. He wanted Todoroki to never protest when he dropped what he was doing to rush to Todoroki's side. Todoroki didn't need to love him and Denki would be fine with that. It would hurt, but he'd get over it. But if Todoroki wouldn't let him hold him up in the only way Denki knew how, that would crush him.

That terrified him. That was what he carried and didn't voice even to Ashido for that first week. That was what stewed inside him, turning into a twisted potion, a poison that paralyzed him.

Unlike all his other concerns and problems, when he finally did tell Ashido, when the stress became too much for him and he was trying to chill in his room and he had no other outlet except one of his friends, she didn't have solution for him. There was nothing he could do. But she rushed over to his place, Kirishima in tow (because they live near each other, apparently) and they both held him in their arms until his thoughts didn't seem so loud and things didn't seem so big anymore and they fell asleep like that and Denki slept better than he had nearly since the confession.

Ashido sent Todoroki a stern look the next morning, which seemed to confuse him, but after that singular glance, she didn't show any sign of blaming anyone. Still, Denki begged her and Kirishima both not to say anything. "Don't rush him." He said. "If he still needs time to think about it, we should give it to him."

Kirishima seemed on the same page, and though Ashido knew and acknowledged that he was right, she still seemed bitter about it. After that night, they both stuck to him like glue, with him all through the school day and often at least one of them with him when he went home. Sero joined them, too, at Ashido's account of what had happened. They were more insistent than he was about holding his hand at any given opportunity, and he appreciated how much they cared, but it was a bittersweet happiness that they granted him with that, because it was that exact thing that he was so scared of being refused with Todoroki.

Any one of them would do anything for each other. That was a given. Everyone knew it. Denki wasn't satisfied with himself if he gave anything less. That's why he hated his relationships with some of his other classmates. He would gladly do anything for Bakugou, but he couldn't do anything but make himself known as someone who cares because Bakugou wouldn't accept anything more. He would gladly do anything for Asui, but he didn't know what he could do or how. She always seemed so in control and never seemed to want for anything and he hadn't spoken with her enough to learn anything he might even have a chance of supporting her with. He'd never seen the opening, never unlocked the door.

He saw a hint of something in Todoroki, worry tinged with something more than a respectful concern for his classmate. Something deeper that might be tied to his past or his family or the villain attacks and he didn't know exactly what it was but he knew that he could hold Todoroki and make him laugh and make him smile and maybe make living just a little easier for him. Denki could be the reason for Todoroki to smile and that was enough for him, but if that was taken away, then Denki would be lost.

Denki couldn't care less at that point if Todoroki loved him back, only if he'd be allowed to keep loving Todoroki. And that and the stress of wondering where and when and how a real answer would come made Saturday's tutoring session one of the least effective they'd had. It made Denki wish that Todoroki hadn't felt compelled to respond at all. If there was no reason to expect anything, he wouldn't have felt so tense.

The last thing Denki wanted was to clue Todoroki into how he was feeling. He didn't want Todoroki to feel like his extended deliberation was taxing on Denki. He knew that if Todoroki figured it out, he would feel guilty and would try to rush himself and there was a chance he'd hurry into a decision he wasn't satisfied with. And though Denki would of course support Todoroki if he did change his mind, he knew that Todoroki would feel bad about it, and making Todoroki feel bad was the last thing Denki wanted to do.

In tutoring, Denki was spending so much effort in maintaining his façade that he hardly heard a thing Todoroki said. When called out on his uncharacteristic quiet, Denki had to strain himself to keep his voice level and cheerful and normal. He did manage to occasionally use the work itself as a distraction, which meant the session wasn't a total waste, but when he mounted his skateboard to go home he was shaking and stiff and he had to yell and fight off stress-induced tears.

 _It's so stupid. This should be the easy part. Telling him was supposed to be the hard part. But waiting is so hard. I can't do anything. There's nothing for me to hold onto, nothing to say, nothing to do. The situation is totally out of my control and it's so frustrating._

When he stumbled off the board and had to chase it down, he decided he wasn't in much of a state to ride it. _Probably go into the street at this rate._ So he just walked the rest of the way home, tracing the lines of the sidewalk with his eyes. _Fuck, he probably knows now. He can read me pretty well; there's no way he doesn't know that it's bothering me. Or that something's bothering me. It's not hard to figure out what, though._

Heroes were taught to act. That's what they did. When someone was upset, when someone was in danger, a hero helped. Denki and Todoroki both would be fighting against this drive that they had, or that was so deeply ingrained in them from their lessons and their lives. Denki, with nothing within his grasp to change. No options available to him anymore. He'd done all he could, but he wasn't rescued. And he knew Todoroki would see his pain and act to end it one way or the other, but he didn't want that. He wished they were just normal kids who could be selfish and could say "it doesn't matter if he's hurting, I need to figure out myself first". He wished they weren't so damn heroic because then Todoroki wouldn't be rushed and he wouldn't feel bad for rushing him and Todoroki would prioritize himself the same way Denki prioritized him. He wouldn't have to worry that Todoroki was going to do something without his own best interests in mind because it wouldn't be so damn fitting for him.

 _But then would we even like each other? Ha… I don't know. Maybe we wouldn't even be here. Being heroes is so important to who we are that we have to accept that if we're ever going to say we love each other. And I do love him. Still, do heroes always have to be so self-sacrificing?_

Incompetence for a hero was painful. To watch someone out of reach in pain, to do everything at your disposal and still not manage to overcome. But hesitance was even worse. To see someone within reach, within your power to save, and fail to act was something that even considering brought a cloud of shame over Denki's eyes. It burned him in his core. If Todoroki noticed, Denki was sure he'd act sooner rather than later. _Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't._

And Todoroki, as expected, does.

Denki had that Sunday to unwind. There was no reason he should see Todoroki on a Sunday, so he managed to relax a little, content that nothing dramatic would happen. Nothing was around the corner waiting to sucker-punch him. But come Monday, Todoroki approached Denki's lunch group, asking politely, a little demurely, to speak with Denki alone.

Ashido grabbed his hand, Kirishima and Sero patted his back, and then they let Denki stand to follow Todoroki away from everyone. Todoroki wrung his hands in an unnatural expression of nerves as they walked side by side down the hall. Denki caught him sneaking glances frequently, his mismatched, enigmatic gaze wild and careful and confused and determined.

"Where are we going?" Denki asked, trying to break the suffocating silence.

"Away." Todoroki muttered. "S-sorry. I can't do this where anyone will be watching."

"It's fine, man. Wherever." They continued until Todoroki led him outside and behind a building to a secluded, shadowy little hideaway. Denki examined the area first. It was peaceful, quiet, a good place to get away. _Wonder when he found this place. I pretty much never go off the beaten path, so I'd have never found this._ He looked at Todoroki, a sharp discomfort in his chest at the sight. "Todoroki, dude, you don't have to force yourself to say something."

"Yes, I do." Todoroki closed his eyes. "If I don't force myself, I'll never say anything at all."

Denki smiled just a little. "I know. But don't rush an answer if you don't have one."

"I do, though. I have had one." He hugged himself and turned away just a little. "I'm just not as good at this as you." Denki resisted the urge to go up to him and stroke his arms and whisper reassurances. _He has to do it himself. And you don't want to be in that situation when he rejects you._ "I'm sorry, Kaminari." Denki fought a grimace, but it didn't seem like Todoroki could look him in the face anyway, so he might have gotten away with it. "I'm so sorry I put you through this. And don't say it's okay." Denki closed his mouth, his reassurance cut off before it could start. "You told me that…"

"I've got a crush on you." He offered at Todoroki's inability to speak the words.

"You told me _that_. And you just… didn't even complain once. I've been basically ignoring it for almost two weeks and you've been trying not to even let me know that it's bothering you."

Denki worried his lip and tried to catch Todoroki's gaze. "I didn't want to rush you."

"I can't stand you when you do that!" Todoroki turned straight to him, a frustration and worry and maybe a little fear in his eyes and scribed onto his face. "You do it with your quirk, you do it _any time_ you struggle. You always worry more about everyone else than your own damn well-being." Denki didn't have any response to that. He didn't expect it. "Why can't you just take care of yourself?"

Denki laughed. "I was thinking that about you."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about! You want me to care more about myself than I do you. But, Kaminari, I can't do that."

Denki felt like Todoroki had wrapped his hands around his heart, and he wasn't sure which quirk was hurting him. "I can't do that either, Todoroki. Don't you get that? I will always put you and Mina and Sero above myself. And I know you'll put us first; you're a hero. That's what we do. I just want you to let me."

Todoroki hissed in frustration. "Then you have to let me."

"If that's what it takes."

"Look, Kaminari." Todoroki took a deep breath and sighed. He stepped closer, so that they were within reach of each other. "You need to tell me when I'm hurting you, okay? Even if it's something like this. Watching you from afar only worries me more."

"I understand." Denki pushed the words out without feeling.

"I-" Todoroki stumbled over his own words, but he didn't turn away again. Denki could see how much he struggled, but he kept his chin up. "I'm sorry, I- I owe you a real answer and it's _stupid_ because you already told me you like me but I ca- I can't get the words. I…" He groaned. "Could you… could you ask me again?"

Denki felt the tightness in his own chest so acutely that he thought he didn't have any breath to speak with. "Can I hold your hand?" He breathed, less a question than a whimper.

Todoroki laughed breathlessly. "That's not what I meant."

"I know…" Denki grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "I just think I need something to hold onto if I'm going to say it again."

Todoroki didn't stop chuckling even as he offered his hand. "Okay."

Denki sidled up next to him, turning to slot their fingers together. He covered the back of Todoroki's hand with his other, and brought his gaze up to meet Todoroki's mismatched one. "I want to date you." He said, his voice steady and strong. "Will you go out with me?"

Todoroki used his free hand to cover his mouth, forcing any unwelcome sputtering right back down his throat. He nodded.

Denki ran a hand through his hair, laughing in disbelief. "Really? Yes?"

"Yes. I would love to."

"It's not too late to change your mind."

"Why would I want to?" He pulled Denki into a tight hug. "Of course, I'll date you."

Denki just wrapped his arms around Todoroki as tightly as he could and tried not to cry. He just used Todoroki's sturdy body as an anchor because he was sure nothing that just happened was real.

"Kaminari? You're shaking."

Denki clutched him tighter. "I never thought…" He choked out. "Sorry."

"Are you crying?" Alarm wove into Todoroki's voice.

"Happy tears! Happy tears! Don't worry."

"Oh. Good. I think." Todoroki's arms around him slackened, but Denki didn't want to let go.

"No."

"Kaminari?"

"If I let go, I'll wake up."

A rumbling, shaking chuckle. "You're not dreaming." Much quieter. "Though I'm not convinced _I'm_ not."

"And stop using my surname, man, we're supposed to be dating."

Todoroki shook a little more with his quiet laugh. "Just… like that?"

Denki finally let go, but only so he could look Todoroki seriously in the eyes. "Hmm." He tried to push past the surrealism and the elation to bring them both to something more important. "You're right. We're going to need to talk about how it'll work."

Todoroki hesitated. "Uh, right."

"I'm fine with you calling me Denki. Or whatever you want, really."

"It still feels weird."

"Everything does." Denki chuckled. He felt like stardust was enveloping them both, swirling around them, obscuring everything, trapping them in themselves and a sparkly void. "How about we go normally for now? Use whatever name you're comfortable with, however much pda you're comfortable with, you know. Heck, we don't even have to stay together. We can arrange a date sometime and try to get used to it.

"And, um, how do you feel about everyone else? Knowing… I mean Mina and them will know, I couldn't hide it if I tried, but we don't have to be obvious about it if you don-"

"It's fine." Todoroki coughed awkwardly. "I think… maybe your idea is best. Let's not do anything drastic. We can go on a real date and start getting comfortable with this and just take it at our own pace. Everyone else will figure it out as they do or the rumors will reach them, or… I don't care." Denki smiled, still in awe at how someone like Todoroki, a pure liquid who could fill any space you put him in, could seem so awkward, so out of place. "And, uh, you can call me Shouto, if you want."

"Shouto…" Denki tested it on his tongue. It tingled, buzzed all through him. "Weird."

Both of them started laughing. "Right?" Todoroki said. "I don't think I use anyone's given names. 'Denki' feels odd."

"Well, we have as long as we need to get used to it, right? And Mina uses both, no reason you couldn't, too."

Todoroki smiled, a little relieved. "In that case, I'll try to work it in slowly. If that's okay with you."

"Is that okay with you? We can both work up to it. Affection, too. You know I'm fine with whatever, but if I do something you aren't comfortable with, you just say so, alright?"

"Okay. Thank you, Denki."

"Of course, Shouto." Denki tried to say it smoothly, but he ended up with a weird feeling in his mouth. "Ugh, yeah. That's going to take some getting used to."

"How is that so weird for _you_? You're so much more casual than I am."

"Yeah, but you're you. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that I'd get to this point."

Todoroki shook his head, chuckling. "Well, I don't mind. Your friends are probably wondering how this went, though. Should we go tell them?"

"They're going to flip out."

"I hope so."

Denki slapped his shoulder. "We're a bad influence on you."

"And yet you still asked me out."

"Hey, I included myself in that statement."

Todoroki laughed and slipped his hand into Denki's. Denki flushed, but grinned through it. And if his grin turned a little bit cocky when he noticed other students catch sight of them, well it wasn't on purpose at least.

When they reached the cafeteria, Denki saw Ashido flailing and violently shaking Sero before they even approached the table. Denki waved to them, mouthing silently "oh my god!" as they passed. Ashido's squeal was very much _not_ silent. He laughed as they went to get their food.

They had to let go of each other to carry their lunch trays, and when they got back to the class 1-A tables, Denki and Todoroki parted ways to go to their respective places.

Ashido almost knocked his tray out of his hands in her excitement when she hugged him roughly before he could totally sit down. "It went well!" She exclaimed. "Why aren't you sitting together?"

Denki chuckled. "We still have friends. And anyway, we're just going to go on a date soon and figure out how things go from there. We both agreed to just kind of take it easy for now."

"Good thinking. You'd be so awkward otherwise."

"Thanks for your unerring faith in me, best friend."

Through his friend's congratulations, Denki looked over to the other table, seeing Uraraka on her feet and sort of dumbly pointing back and forth between Todoroki and him, Iida gesticulating stiffly while no doubt spouting off some lecture on etiquette, Asui smiling broadly, with what Denki assumed were congratulations on her lips. Hagakure was flailing, her sleeves waving up and down as her whole body bounced. Midoriya grinned, clearly happy for him, and seemed to be listening to Iida.

His own group wasn't too much better. Ashido and Sero were all over him, occasionally stopping him even from eating. Kirishima would be the same except he was teasingly talking to Bakugou about it, trying to coax any sort of excitement out of him. Jirou passed by and clapped him on the back, but for the most part his lunch was mostly stealing glances to Todoroki's table and listening to Ashido describe date ideas in excruciating detail.

Which Denki appreciated. He didn't exactly have a clear idea on what to do, anyway, and every word out of her mouth further solidified the insane idea that it was actually happening. Every word, every reaffirmation another stone in the structure building up to the castle that he was still pretty sure was just a dream.

 _What the fuck am I supposed to do on a date?_ The thought crept into his mind and bulldozed everything else. Sure, Ashido was spouting off ideas, but he had no idea how he was supposed to act, what he was supposed to do, what he should wear. "Oh fuck." He muttered. "I have a _date_."

Sero snickered. "Yeah, dude."

Quietly, but with a lot of feeling, Denki said, "How do you date?"

"You've never been on a date before?"

"Not one that I knew was a date."

Ashido rubbed his back gently. "Don't worry, I'll pick your outfit for you."

"I mean, _thank you_ , but also what am I supposed to say?"

"Whatever you want!" Kirishima said. "It's your first date! Just talk about yourself, and ask about him! You should be trying to get to know each other."

Denki frowned. "Yeah… we've only had a few real conversations like that."

"There you go!" Ashido cheered. "You can do this!"

Denki let out a gentle sigh of relief. _Yeah. They'll get me through it, if nothing else. I wonder if Todoroki is as nervous as I am. We haven't even decided when to do it and I'm freaking out!_

 _Let's let things ride through. I'll figure things out as it happens. Should still probably brush up on proper date protocol, though._

He was buzzing. Nervous and excited and still feeling a little dazed, he stumbled through the rest of the day. Every doubt crossed his mind at some point. Maybe the whole thing was a fever dream and he didn't remember waking up and he'd talk to Todoroki about it later and make a fool of himself. Maybe he was still dreaming. Maybe Todoroki would realize that Denki really isn't anything special, especially not compared to him. Maybe he'd finally realize what a mess Denki really was, and would abscond like any sane person.

And yet, to his utter disbelief and joy, Todoroki walked with him and Ashido to the train station. They made their plans for their first date – nothing extravagant, just coffee at a cozy little café they passed by all the time going to and from the station. Denki hadn't been there, but Todoroki said he stopped by occasionally to get a quick breakfast before school.

Todoroki seemed a little shy talking about it, or maybe it was from talking about it with Ashido with them and giving input, but he never hesitated or showed any inclination of backing down.

At the risk of turning their tutoring session into a date night, they decided to have their first date on Tuesday, before Wednesday's session. Because of Denki's after school activities, they'd have to do it late, but that was fine with them. They still had a fair amount of time to chat, and that's all they really needed. The timing wasn't perfect, but neither of them were comfortable rushing into it that afternoon and they had enough experience with big, personal conversations during tutoring that they knew it wasn't a good idea if they wanted to stay efficient. _Better to get the new arrangement sorted out before we're trying to study at the same time._

 _Heck, he'll be distracting enough without figuring out everything then._


	10. Chapter 10

If Denki didn't know better, he'd say he had built up a little too much electricity and it was itching to jump. His skin crawled, an uncomfortable but not bad side effect of the churning storm in his chest. Under any situation, he probably would have hated the feeling, but this excitement wasn't due to anxiety and fear and regret. It was eagerness, apprehension, impatience, hope. It was as if his body couldn't contain everything he was feeling, and it was pushing at his skin, dragging along the inside of him, searching for a way through.

That feeling stayed with him all through the afternoon and through Tuesday's classes. With such agitated insides, his outside reflected that. He almost didn't even try to pay attention in class, thinking about that evening instead. He wondered what they would do, what they would say. He worried over his attire, his attitude, whether it was even a good idea in the first place. _What if he decides "boyfriend" and "dating" isn't good enough? I wouldn't blame him if he decides he'd be better off going the friend route and dating someone else. I mean, what do I give him anyway? What makes a date any different from a friend?_

 _Stop it! You've been through all this. You'll talk it through with him. He knows what he's getting into. It probably doesn't even matter. It's like how you feel! If the name is what you want, then it makes sense to date even if there isn't any super important affection threshold or anything like that._

 _Heh. Affection threshold. Where is Shouto's, I wonder? I'm going to push it higher, one way or another. I know I can do that. I think I already have, I just need to take it further._

 _First thing's first, though. Shouto. I need to get used to that. I want to remind him every day that he's got someone who loves him, and that reminder of being close is a step. Shouto. Shouto. Heh, now that the novelty is wearing off, I actually kind of like it._

When he finally got out of his after-school activities, he was pleasantly surprised to find the whole gang waiting for him at his home, already in his room and rifling through his stuff. Ashido and Bakugou were arguing over a nice-looking shirt that Denki forgot was in his closet while Sero and Kirishima watched with exasperation.

"Bakugou?" Denki exclaimed. He had expected the others to pull something like that, they had before, after all, but he wouldn't have imagined Bakugou would show up to help him prepare for a date of all things with Todoroki of all people.

Everyone turned to face him. Bakugou vehemently threw the shirt back in the closet and went to dig through his clothes. Again, apparently. "Only here because if you screw this up and start crying, I'll have to listen to it. Besides, I wouldn't trust Pinky to dress a hamster. Like hell am I letting her dress you." He pulled a hanger down, examining the shirt on it with clear disgust. "And you clearly can't do it your-damn-self." The hook returned to the bar with a sharp click and Bakugou went back to searching for something else.

"That's…" Denki smiled despite himself. "Actually, that's really mean, but thank you anyway. I appreciate you coming to help me!"

Sero sat Denki down and, with Kirishima, started chattering almost endlessly. "So, you've figured out what you'll talk about?"

"At first, about dating itself?" Denki rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Not the most romantic, I know, but it's important that we figure it out before it distracts us both in tomorrow's tutoring."

Kirishima ruffled his hair. "No, it's perfect. It shows that you're taking it seriously. Super manly and romantic!"

"Agreed!" Sero exclaimed. "Nothing says romance like 'I legitimately care about how you feel and want to make sure to respect your boundaries'."

"Sero, stop it." Kirishima said, clasping his hands together dramatically. "You're going to make me swoon."

"But Kirishima, I just… really want to support you and make you feel comfortable."

Kirishima faked swooning, and Denki's attention was grabbed by the explosive yelling on the other side of the room. "Hey! Pay attention!" A rust-colored tee sailed through the air to hit Ashido in the face. She pulled it down to examine it.

"Isn't it a little simple?"

"They're going to a fucking café, not an opera." Bakugou rolled his eyes and turned back to the closet, pulling down something else, hardly even looking at it before he tossed it over his shoulder to Ashido.

"Oh! Denki! Your favorite leather jacket! Hey, Bakugou, how'd you know he feels more comfortable in this?"

"Why the fuck would I know that? It's just a not shitty jacket and you complained about the shirt on its own."

"I don't buy it."

"Everyone feels good in leather, stupid. It's a powerful fabric."

"Oh my god."

Bakugou's harsh glare met Ashido's giggling, twinkling gaze. "What?"

"And you call _us_ nerds."

"I'll fuckin' show yo-"

"Bakugou!" Kirishima leapt in to prevent Bakugou from destroying Denki's room in his bid to get at Ashido. "That's a very good choice, buddy! We should find some pants to go with it, right?"

Bakugou smoldered for a moment before turning back to the closet, clicking his tongue. "You're lucky, Pinky."

"Well yeah, I've got a friend like you!"

Bakugou didn't acknowledge her; he just started digging through the rest of Denki's clothes. Crisis averted, Kirishima rejoined Sero to continue whispering encouragement and asking about Denki's feelings and otherwise just making totally sure that he was prepared for what was rapidly approaching.

And in fact, to Denki it felt so rapid that he swore he had only just sat down before he was being told to hurry up and change clothes and to get going because "you don't have all day" and "if you're late I'll murder you myself" and Denki wondered if maybe his friends were more invested in it than he was until he took his first step down the street. Once he had, he knew that his friends' excitement, for all their care and love, definitely did not match his own.

Each step felt like it transported him a hundred thousand miles and he'd be on Pluto before he made it to the café down the street. Familiar terrain passed him by, but his mind was in the stars and his heart was somewhere in far-off Andromeda.

And even though he felt excited to the extreme, he wouldn't have described himself as nervous. He was vibrating with overflowing kinetic energy, the buzzing in his chest a deep, thrumming bass that was so visceral he was almost surprised that he wasn't shattering nearby windows with it.

He stepped into the café, smiling at the warm colors and welcoming scent of baked treats. Todoroki wasn't there yet, so he took a seat next to a window, tracing the stuck-on lettering but not really reading it, picking at the dark denim of his pants idly, humming a quiet tune.

The bell over the door ringed. Denki looked over to meet the mismatched gaze of his date. The sight alone burned away all the oxygen in his lungs. Todoroki looked adorably awkward, red-faced and pulling at his cardigan mindlessly. His hair was beautiful as always, and it laid flat like usual, but Denki could tell someone had fussed with it like Kirishima had with his before he left. _Probably Yaomomo. I'd bet his clothes are her doing, too._ He grinned stupidly at the thought, finding the conjured vision of Yaoyorozu rifling through Todoroki's closet and sitting down with him going over what he was going to say just adorable.

And when those mismatched eyes called him over, Denki decided they weren't mismatched at all, but complimentary instead. "Sorry." Todoroki said, meeting Denki halfway. "Have you been waiting long?"

Denki honestly couldn't remember. "Not at all, dude! And it's good to see you, Shouto. I've been so excited for this."

Todoroki cleared his throat and rubbed his neck leading the way to the counter so they could order something. "Yeah. Me too."

They sat in almost-awkward silence until they could get their drinks but once they sat down at the table, Denki just looked up at Todoroki, who was so big, who overpowered him and outshined him in every way, who stood at the pinnacle of their year, and saw on his normally insufferably and charmingly indifferent face a myriad of nerves and wonder and confusion and fear and Denki just started laughing because he couldn't wrap his head around it.

It must have been something in the atmosphere, because Todoroki started chuckling too. That just made Denki laugh harder. He ended up needing to cover his mouth to stifle himself, and he couldn't look at Todoroki without reinvigorating the fit. "This is real?" He muttered through his fingers.

Todoroki boldly reached out and took Denki's hand in his, running his thumb along his knuckles. Physical proof that they were there together. "Yeah, Denki. It's real." Todoroki retracted his hand to take a sip of his tea. "That so hard to believe?"

Denki pulled both his hands into his lap and gently ran his fingers over where Todoroki had touched him. "Honestly? Yes."

"Why?"

Denki blushed and looked at the table. He sipped his coffee (decaf – Denki was already wired, and it was getting pretty late, anyway) to buy time without stretching the awkward pause too long. "I just… You're so…" He sighed. "You're on a whole different level than I am. In, like, every way. Honestly, I don't know how I tricked you into thinking I'm someone even worth considering spending time with, much less this."

Hard lines of a frown and the pinch of eyebrows knitting together. "I don't know how you tricked yourself into thinking all your amazing qualities are just 'tricks'."

He had to laugh at that. "I'm sorry. I know, I just… I'm still kind of waiting for you to realize I'm not all that great and then…" He sniffed a little. "Sorry. I'm doing my best not to think that far ahead."

Todoroki hummed, disgruntled. "Well, you've given me something to do at least."

"What's that?"

"Making sure you know that you're worth every ounce of attention you get."

Denki lowered his head, just holding back a scream. _Oh my god…_ "He's going to kill me."

"I hope not." Todoroki took a sip of his tea casually, though his eyes held a shine to them that Denki wasn't too familiar with but hoped would never go away. _Fuck, I said that out loud, didn't I?_ "I'd rather not kill my boyfriend."

He couldn't keep his hands in his lap. They moved to cover his face on their own accord. Still, he laughed. _He can joke!_ "Boyfriend…" He chuckled deliriously. "We're boyfriends?"

"I was under that impression. Was… I wrong?"

The worry that shot across Todoroki's face sprung words from Denki's lips before he could even think of them. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no. That makes me really happy! I just didn't want to assume you'd be comfortable with that, especially so soon. I thought you might want to… I don't know… do this a little bit before using the word. And then, you know, maybe 'partners' would suit you better or…"

"I think I understand." Todoroki shook his head. "I'm sorry. I don't really know how it's supposed to work."

"Dude, join the club. We'll just figure out how it works for us, yeah? Just… talk. A long as we tell each other everything, we won't have problems. Maybe." He chuckled. "That's what Kirishima said, anyway."

"He's probably right. Yaoyorozu said something similar."

"That's why I keep saying this, but… are you really sure you want to do this?"

Todoroki frowned and leaned back in his seat. "Kaminari… I understand your doubts. I have them, too." He grit his teeth, like it was painful to say. "I have no idea where this will take us, and you've so quickly become the best friend I've ever had. I don't want to mess that up. And I still think about how you looked when you told me… when you did what I couldn't like it was the easiest thing in the world." _He… had a crush on me? He wasn't just agreeing, he actually…_ "And how brave you are, pushing yourself for our sakes; how when you set your mind to something you go so far. I know you think it's the other way around, but I find myself wondering how someone like you ended up liking me at all. We're so different…"

"Complimentary, I think." Denki said, swallowing down his feelings. "Opposites attract and all that. It won't change our feelings, but can we at least acknowledge, just consciously, that we're both really good at some things and kind shit at others?"

"And together we're good at everything."

Denki snorted. "Bakugou won't like that."

Todoroki chuckled. "Speaking of. He doesn't really like me. Not since the sports festival."

"You're fine." Denki waved him off. "He actually helped pick my outfit for tonight, believe it or not."

Todoroki arced an eyebrow incredulously. "That seems far-fetched, but you know him better than I do."

"Yeah. He wouldn't say it, but you don't have anything to worry about unless something between us goes, you know, horribly wrong. Then he might call for blood. He cares, in his own way."

"Isn't _he_ supposed to give me the shovel talk?"

"Again, he wouldn't say it."

Todoroki laughed gently. "Well, my only friends are Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, and Iida, so… you're probably safe."

"Maybe, but I definitely would not want to piss off any of them. Anyway, my friends got you covered. They'd kick my ass soon as they'd kick yours."

"I'd buy it."

"The benefits of best friends." Denki shrugged. "But, uh, since we both agree that we've snagged the best boyfriend in the world… well, first of all I do want to say that there's no way I'm letting go." He grinned. "Not so long as it's my decision."

"Ha. Right back at you."

"But other than that, are any other concerns or… I don't know. Anything? I know I'm touchy, so I'll make sure to ask, but you know that. I can't promise I won't be talking you up all the time, though."

Todoroki smiled and worried his lip. "You know…" His amused expression became serious. "You probably figured out I don't talk to my parents much." Denki shifted in his seat, every ounce of his attention hanging on Todoroki's words. "I don't really care one way or the other, and I've obviously known for a while, but… my dad is kind of big on his legacy. It's the only reason I'm alive in the first place. There's a chance he will be super not okay with this."

Denki blinked. "What? Because we're…"

"Both boys, yeah. It's just a chance, mind you. No kids means no legacy and especially no super-quirk." He said it flippantly, off-handedly. "Not sure how much that matters to him beyond myself, but it's there."

The Rube Goldberg machine in Denki's head ran and ran, knocking things over and burning others and in the end he was pretty sure his mind was a wreck, but he did come to a single conclusion. An implication. "No super… What?!" He almost jumped out of his seat, fought to keep his voice below a scream. "Your quirk is becau- What the _fuck_? Who the hell does Endeavor think he is?!"

"A top hero."

"Fuck that! He doesn't deserve to be number two! He shouldn't even be a hero! Who does something like that?"

Todoroki's eyes were soft, placating. "Quirk marriages weren't uncommon when the phenomenon first started appearing."

"I don't care! Who the hell _breeds_ kids? We're people, not a fucking pedigree!"

"Well, you understand my dislike for him."

"Okay, okay." Denki took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm good. Please, Shouto, tell me he at least acted like a proper dad." Todoroki made a vague, noncommittal noise, and Denki felt his blood begin to boil. "That settles it. We're getting married and you're just going to live with me."

That elicited a furious blush and a squeaky voice from Todoroki. "Wh-what?"

"I hope your dad disapproves. I hope we can flaunt our gay asses in front of him. I hope he regrets his fucking life."

"Kaminari…"

"I will personally go over to Endeavor's hero agency and paint the building rainbow. I will get a plane to pull a banner over him wherever he goes that says 'Fuckass'."

"Denki." Todoroki laughed, stopping Denki's ranting by reaching over the table and grabbing his hand. "It's fine. I just wanted to warn you."

"Consider me warned, dude. And don't worry. It's fine if he disapproves. I disapprove of him. I'll fight him."

"Please don't fight the number two hero."

"Endeavor can fucking fight me."

"Denki, please."

With a deep breath, Denki heeded Todoroki's words. "Okay, fine."

"Thank you." Todoroki squeezed his hand tightly. "It does mean something that you care."

"Dude, everyone would. Literally the whole class would fight your dad if you asked."

A gentle, sing-song chuckle. "Maybe. Still, thank you."

Denki squeezed the hand in his as tightly as he could, trying to force all his feelings through a few finger pads. "My parents will be fine, for the record. They've been dealing with my shenanigans for years."

"That's reassuring."

"But uh, so your dad is the actual worst." Todoroki hummed in response. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. Obviously. But, uh, what about your mom?"

"She's doing better."

"Doing… better?"

"She's uh, in the hospital. Well, a mental hospital."

Denki felt like his innards were withering away. "What the hell, man? So, you've only really had your siblings?"

"For a while, yeah. When I was younger, Mom lived with us. But living with Endeavor was… she just got worse and worse until…" He gestured nonchalantly to the scar over his eye.

"What the fuck?! She did that?"

"My left side… looked like him. She didn't want me to be him. She wasn't thinking clearly. By then she was already so unstable. It was after that that dad put her in the hospital."

Denki clutched the edge of the table for fear of shattering his coffee cup. His jaw hurt from how hard he was clenching it. "No offense, dude, but I hate your family."

"Mom's not bad. After the sports festival, I started visiting her. We're doing okay. And my siblings help a lot. They understand, after all."

Denki cursed as something else clicked into place in his head. "Your siblings… they don't have both quirks, do they?" Todoroki shook his head. "They're just… failed experiments. I'm going to fucking murder your dad."

"Please don't. I mean, I wouldn't argue against it, but he would actually put you in the hospital and I prefer my boyfriend in one piece."

The red on Denki's face, then, was only partially from fury. "Keep calling me your boyfriend and I'll consider hanging back."

"If that's what my boyfriend wants."

He made some sort of incoherent whine. "Only because I'd rather hold your hand."

Todoroki chuckled. "Good."

"It might be smart to keep tutoring when he's not home though. Honestly I was kind of nervous to meet him before but now I'm just nervous I'd end up punching him."

"Thank you for that image." Todoroki laughed. "But please don't."

"You might have to hold me back."

"You will never escape my arms."

"Oh, there's the dream."

Both of them broke down giggling, their faces redder than ever.

Once they had calmed down, Denki ventured just a little further. "But other than your dad, you think your folks will be cool with this?"

"Oh, yeah. My siblings all know I'm not straight anyway, and Mom is… well it's been a while. I don't know what she'll think, but I'm not too worried about it. Even if she doesn't approve, which I think she will, she won't actually be a problem for us."

"Hmm, yeah. We might need to have date night at my place if the 'eugenics hero' is home."

Todoroki snorted, barely managing not to spill his tea. "Denki, oh my god."

"What? Don't like it?" He grinned mischievously. "I can think of more, I'm sure."

"No, it's fine! Please don't." Todoroki was already doing his best to hold back his laughter, ducking his head cutely and biting his lip and bringing a hand to hover near his mouth and his eyes unfocused in their mirth. _There it is._ Denki could only watch with adoration. _He needs to look like that more often._

Denki drank his coffee to allow them both time to cool down. When the atmosphere came back to ground-level, he looked up at Todoroki and said, "Thank you for telling me."

"It's nothing. You deserve to know."

"It's not nothing. I just hope I can help."

"You already do."

Denki smiled fondly and allowed silence to take over once more. A transition, a reset for a new tone and a new topic. "Anything else you can think of that worries you about this?"

"Only that I don't know what I'm doing."

"Hey, same."

"And you?"

"Nothing I haven't said. Or implied. You're sure you're okay with me being cuddly with Mina and the others?"

Todoroki smiled and shook his head. "Of course, I am. That's something that I like about you."

Denki swallowed the lump in his throat. "Good."

"Is that it, then?"

The fond hope in Todoroki's eyes made Denki's words strong. "I hope so. We're going to do this?"

"If you want to."

"That is _all_ I want right now."

"Heh, then I guess we're boyfriends."

"Guess so." They smiled at each other, drank some more, smiled more. Silence stretched on. Denki's smile was a permanent fixture, but he was still beginning to let the quiet wear on him. "So… what now?"

Todoroki laughed awkwardly. "No idea."

"Hey, do you mind pet names? Like if I call you 'babe' or 'darling' sometimes, would that be okay?"

"Maybe ease into it."

Denki shrugged. "I got used to 'Shouto' pretty quick. You're going to need to tell me when it's okay and not, alright?"

Todoroki ran a hand down his face. "For now, just keep it within our class. Is that okay?"

"Course, babe."

"Oh my god. Our friends are going to freak out when they hear you say something like that."

"Honey, our friends are freaking out right now and they don't even know what's going on."

"That's… not inaccurate."

"Imagine their reactions the first time they see us kiss."

Todoroki blushed even more intensely than he had been. "Do I have to?"

Denki snickered. "Mina might actually scream so maybe watch your ears."

"Why don't we worry about that when we get to that point."

"Pfft. Fair." Denki downed the last of his coffee, licking his lips. "You were right. This place is good."

"Their muffins are the best thing in the morning."

"Ooh, I bet you're better."

" _Denki_."

He grinned. "Sorry. Sorry. Couldn't help it."

Todoroki sighed, resigned. "Well, I signed up for it." He drained his own cup and placed it down much more gently than Denki had. After a few more minutes of talking, just about themselves – their favorite things, their hobbies, things like that, a lot of it wasn't particularly new or surprising, but it was stuff that Denki committed to memory – Todoroki's eyes flicked to the window. "What time is it?"

Denki looked to see that it had gotten dark. "Don't know." He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check. "Ech. Nine."

Todoroki sighed. "We still have homework."

"Don't remind me."

"And school tomorrow."

"Why?"

Todoroki chuckled. "Come on. You need time to get your homework done. We should go."

Denki sighed but stood along with Todoroki. They walked to the door and, once outside, linked hands. "You know," he said, "I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of my friends is camped out at my place right now."

"Tell them I said you need to do your homework."

"That's not going to stop them."

Todoroki hummed. "Promise me you'll do your homework before you speak a word about tonight to anyone."

"What? Why?"

"If you promise, your friends will help you with your homework and you might even have time to talk to them before you need to sleep."

"Good point! I promise."

Todoroki chuckled. "Good. And please go to sleep at a reasonable time." They walked quietly until it became time for them to part ways, going opposite directions down the street. They turned to look at each other, awkwardly pretending that they didn't need to let go of the other's hand. Denki felt weird just leaving, and a hug felt strange for whatever reason, but he couldn't conjure the courage to go for anything else so he just kind of waited for Todoroki to do something. "Can I, uh…" Todoroki said, reading Denki's mind. "Do something a little forward?"

"You can be as forward as you want."

In the soft lamplight, Denki saw Todoroki blush. He leaned forward, getting closer and closer and Denki panicked on the inside. And then a careful hand touched his left cheek and lips met his right. "Good night, Denki." Denki felt the words on his skin, transcribed like a tattoo on his face. "Thank you."

Todoroki turned away and didn't look back as he power-walked away. Denki touched his cheek, the place where Todoroki's lips had touched him. "Later, Shouto…" He mumbled. Todoroki waved over his shoulder to show he had heard, and Denki turned away, still caressing his own cheek, still in disbelief.

He was, frankly, surprised he made it home with the daze he was in the entire time. _He kissed me? He fucking kissed me. Like, on the cheek, yeah, but_ he _kissed_ me _. He initiated it, as like, his idea. What the fuck?_ "Kaminari!"

He snapped out of it enough to see Ashido lounging in his living room. "Mina…" He sighed. _Of course she's still here._ "I promised Shouto I'd do homework before telling you about tonight."

Ashido pouted. "Oh, fine! Good thing Bakugou's still here!"

"What?"

"Mina!" Kirishima pranced into the room. "Do you remember wher- oh! Kaminari's back!" He shouted over his shoulder.

Denki blinked. "Are Mom and Dad asleep?"

Ashido snickered. "Yeah. You know, they really shouldn't trust us alone like this."

"I know. Please tell me you guys haven't destroyed anything."

"Okay," Kirishima said, "we won't tell you."

"Denki!" Sero came barreling out of the kitchen. "How'd it go? Tell me it went well!"

Ashido answered for him. "Apparently, he promised his boyfriend to do his homework before telling us."

"Boyfriend?" Sero asked.

"Boyfriend!" Kirishima cheered. Denki wondered if his parents were really, somehow, sleeping through this, or if they just wanted to let him suffer.

"My word, not his," Ashido said, "but he's not denying it."

Denki shifted on his feet. "No… I'm not."

Three bodies flew at him at max speed, throwing him off balance and sending all of them crashing to the floor.

"Hey! Sparky!" Strong hands grabbed his shoulders and lifted him easily out of the pile. Denki found himself face to face with Bakugou. "Get your stupid homework done so these idiots will shut up." He placed Denki gently on his feet and his hand, for some reason found its way to Denki's head. _Holy shit._ "And don't screw it up. I'm going home."

"Wait, Bakugou!" Kirishima grabbed his leg before he could pass by. "It's already late. Just stay with the rest of us."

"Why the fuck would I want to do that? I only stayed this long because you assholes wouldn't let me leave."

"Well, I'm still not letting you leave!"

Bakugou snarled, shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked back to the couch. "Fuckin' fine."

"Wait, hold on." Denki said. "All four of you are staying over? Where are you going to sleep?"

Ashido threw her hand in the air. "I call bed with Denki!"

"I don't mind the floor." Kirishima said. "You've got room on your floor."

"I do?"

Kirishima grinned sheepishly. "We kind of got bored."

"Alright, then." Sero said. "I'll sleep with Denki and Mina on the bed and you can sleep with Bakugou."

"Fuck you guys. You ain't keeping me here and making me sleep on the floor."

"You want bed with Mina and Denki?"

"I'm sleeping in the fucking bed. Fuck if I care where you all do."

Kirishima chuckled and shrugged. "Looks like we're cuddle buddies, Sero."

"And do your goddamn homework, Sparky!"

Denki fled to his room to begin his homework before Bakugou made him. Ashido tailed him, and since she had already done her homework (one of the many things they had gotten up to while Denki was on his date) it was a simple task to get through it all.

In the meanwhile, his friends all set up their sleeping areas. Kirishima and Sero pulled some blankets onto the cleared floor ( _Where did they put all my stuff?_ ), Bakugou curled up on the bed against the wall, Ashido, when she wasn't helping Denki, was building some sort of fort with Sero and Kirishima in the middle of the room.

When he finally finished and put his pencil down with a sigh, the others were waiting with bated breath. Except Bakugou, who looked like he might have already been asleep. _Maybe we should be quiet._

He sat at the foot of the bed, Ashido taking her place next to him and Sero and Kirishima sitting attentively in their little nest of blankets and pillows that Denki could only assume his parents gave them before they went to bed.

"Well?" Ashido prompted.

"It was… nice." Denki said, already feeling his cheeks warming. "I mean, it wasn't all that much. We just talked about our worries and stuff, you know? And joked a bit. Decided on some limits. That's all."

"Denki. Honey, I love you, but I need the play-by-play."

"Please?" Kirishima drew out his request until Denki caved in and started recounting the nights events.

He left off the bits about Todoroki's family, deciding that it wasn't his business to share it, and his friends understood and respected when he told them he couldn't say because it was personal. Past that, though, he enthusiastically freaked out right along with them. When he mentioned the conversation about the shovel talks, Bakugou sat up and growled at them, reminding Denki that he would definitely kick his butt if he did something stupid and messed it up, but not denying he'd do the same with Todoroki.

The others, wisely, chose not to point that out.

"You're right, though. We need to go have a chat with your new boyfriend."

"You're also right that we'll defend him, too."

"Sorry bro, it's true."

Denki shook his head and kept going. As he recounted their flirting, his friends (obviously) felt the need to comment, a wolf whistle or a "damn!" or a "fuck, Todoroki said that?" but it wasn't until Denki was wrapping up his story and came to the goodbye kiss that everyone jumped out of their seats to tackle him.

He was knocked back into Bakugou, who just muttered about his idiot friends but otherwise just righted him and laid back down. A few minutes into the freak-out of all his friends, Bakugou finally shouted, "Alright, story's over! Now get the fuck to sleep, we have school tomorrow!"

 _I can't believe Bakugou's the mom friend._ Denki snickered, sharing a look with Ashido that told him she was thinking the same thing. Together, they jumped to their spots on the bed. It was a bit of a squeeze, but thankfully Bakugou seemed to have accepted that and didn't put up a fuss. So, pinned between Ashido and Bakugou, Denki decided that Bakugou was probably right. If they didn't go to sleep soon, they'd be exhausted in the morning. Again. So, he closed his eyes and focused on keeping his breathing deep and slow and soon enough he had fallen asleep.

Waking up to Bakugou's peaceful, dare he say content, face was good enough for him, though Denki was a little afraid that Bakugou would, in the haze of morning, forget why he was in that situation and end up blowing him to school with a single blast, but he figured Bakugou had more control than that.

And he did. When Bakugou woke up, the only real noticeable change was the scowl that planted itself on his lips. "Time…" He muttered, rubbing at his bleary eyes.

"Six." Denki said.

"Ugh, fuck. Alright." Bakugou sat up, all traces of his tiredness slipping away. "I'm going to go get ready. Let these guys sleep. They can fight over the bathroom when I'm done."

Denki snickered. "Sure thing, bro."

He stood and stepped carefully around Denki and Ashido and leapt easily over Sero and Kirishima's fort, landing at the door to Denki's room with just a soft thud. He didn't look back when he left the room. _Just freaking jump over them. Sure._ Denki shook his head, exasperated because that was pretty much the main reason he hadn't gotten up. With five of them and only a couple bathrooms in the house, getting ready would take a while, so he thought it would be a good idea to get up early. But stuck as he was in the corner of the room, he just shrugged and hugged Ashido close to him and dozed a little more.

Until his mother came in to wake them all up with barely enough time to brush their teeth before they were flying out the door in a mad rush to catch the train to school.

The group got an odd look when they burst into the classroom. No one really thought it was odd behavior, but they'd never seen a group so big do it at once. Iida stood to say something about punctuality and once they were free to find their seats, Denki just trudged straight past his desk to find Todoroki. "I'm so tired." He whined.

"I told you to go to sleep."

"Yeah, but you can't just sleep when the whole squad is over. Come on, Shouto, who do you think I am?"

Todoroki chuckled. "All of them slept over at your place?" He eyed the four others. "I understand, then. Anyone would be tired."

Denki took a seat on Todoroki's desk, much to Iida's horror. "Honestly, it's Bakugou's fault we got any sleep at all. Thanks, Blasty."

"At least someone is responsible in your group."

Denki snickered. "Hey, we do our best."

"I'm sure."

"Kaminari!" Iida exclaimed. "I insist you get off the desk this instant!"

"Whoops. Sorry, Class Pres." He hopped off the desk.

"You really should return to your seat! Class is going to start in just a few minutes."

"Can do." He turned to Todoroki and put a hand on his shoulder. "Talk to you after class, babe."

Todoroki hummed. "Yeah."

Denki spun on his toes and sashayed down the aisle, grinning like a fool at the stunned look on the faces of everyone within earshot who hadn't already been in on it.

"Kaminari!" A few different people shouted.

"Todoroki!" A few others.

"What the heck?"

"Oh my god, he called him 'babe'!"

"When did that happen?"

Todoroki blushed and coughed awkwardly when bombarded with questions, and Denki decided to take pity on him to return and clear up everything. "It happened when he agreed to be my boyfriend, of course."

A renewed bout of screaming.

"Everyone, please! We need to quiet down!"

"When did this happen?! You two are dating?"

Only the arrival of Mr. Aizawa and the beginning of class was enough to shush everyone, but even that couldn't wipe the smug smirk off of Denki's face. When he looked behind him, Todoroki rolled his eyes and sent him a playful smirk. Denki made a heart with his hands and smiled. _Love you, Shouto._


End file.
